


Clothing Optional

by auspizien



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Banter, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Gay Panic, M/M, Stripper Roronoa Zoro, This Was Supposed To Be PWP But It Grew Long and Fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23997853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auspizien/pseuds/auspizien
Summary: Sanji never expected catering a bachelorette party would end up with him at a playground in the middle of the night with a stripper, but stranger things were known to happen.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 46
Kudos: 473





	Clothing Optional

**Author's Note:**

> It was supposed to be pwp, but ended up with a bit of plot, some emotions, and bunch of bantery fluff lol I hope you enjoy!

Popping the cork on a fresh bottle of champagne, Sanji began topping up another tray of glasses for the bridesmaids currently celebrating in the other room. Reiju had been gracious enough to host Baby’s bachelorette party at their family’s estate - the manor more than spacious enough to accomodate all the guests - and had offered up Sanji’s catering services for the evening.

An array of screams erupted from the grand hall – both shocked and excited – and had Sanji nearly spilling the bottle of champagne. He caught it at the last second and clutched it bodily to himself with a sigh of relief, before setting it aside and strode out of the kitchen to make sure everything was okay. He had tried to stay out of the way for most of the evening to let the ladies have their fun, but at this point he was probably the only sober one left in the house.

Rounding the corner into the room, he stumbled to a stop as it took several moments for all of the information that was presented before him to be properly assessed. His concerned question quickly morphed into one of horror, “What is goin-- Oh my _GOD_!”

There was a man dressed as a cop, who was most certainly _not_ a cop, currently doing horrible things in the living room. Sanji got a traumatizing eyeful of the man with his shirt half off before he was able to clamp a hand across his face with abject horror. Backing out of the room and nearly tripping over a chaise until he got to the safety of the hallway and collapsed back into the wall.

Of course they ordered a stripper.

Reiju had even told him they were.

What he had forgotten to account for - what should have been obvious - was that they had hired a male stripper, and now the image of the man dancing erotically was burned into his retinas. At least the man hadn’t been defiling his _sister_ of all people, but he was pretty sure he could have gone his whole life without seeing Baby grabbing some strange naked man’s chest.

Hand falling away, Sanji let out a dramatic huff and pushed himself back to his feet. He fixed his rumpled shirt and then returned to the kitchen. Reasoning that at least everyone was having a good time and nobody had gotten hurt - except perhaps Sanji’s dignity.

Back in the kitchen, he managed to get another tray of champagne glasses served out in the gardens for the women not partaking in the live entertainment, and got halfway through prepping some hors d'oeuvres when several hurried footsteps caught his attention. He glanced up mid-way through placing some garnishes on one of the treats, when the double doors to the kitchen swung open.

“Sanji!” Keimi squealled drunkenly, stumbling over and barrelling into him with an inebriated hug. He barely had time to catch her to keep her from knocking over the tray, “You have to come with us!”

A few more bridesmaids came running in after Keimi, and Sanji just caught sight of a much more sober Reiju following after them when he was thoroughly swarmed and distracted. Viola looping her arms around Sanji’s and grinning, "We have a surprise for you!”

“Oh no, I'm alright really--” Sanji protested lamely, wishing he had more willpower in him to pull himself out of the hold of the gaggle of women herding him out of the kitchen. Weakly allowing himself to be shoved out of the room with a nervous mutter, “I don't want--”

Before he could finish the sentence, a blindfold was pulled aggressively over his head by one of the giggling girls and he was officially at their mercy. It was hard for him to say no to any woman on a good day; with a bunch of friendly girls fawning over him it was impossible for him to refuse.

He was guided through the mansion, and quickly lost his bearings until he was forced down into a chair. He had a moment to be suspicious before a rope was flung across his lap and was quickly tied behind him keeping him pinned. His earlier nervousness now full blown panic.

As the blindfold was torn off, it was immediately accompanied by Sanji’s horrified murmur of, “Oh no.” and the sight of a nearly naked stripper. He still had on his officer hat, and a utility belt with questionably sexual objects on it, but otherwise there wasn’t much else. His dick was thankfully still safely under a pair of black briefs, but that was everything keeping Sanji safe.

At Sanji’s exclamation, the man grinned wickedly and Sanji whimpered.

One of the bridesmaids switched the song over to something much raunchier, and everyone began screaming and hollering for the next dance to begin. Some of the women were more focused on drinking and dancing themselves than actually watching the show, but most of them were cheering them on as Sanji knew there was no escape.

Breaths coming in a panicked rush, Sanji wanted to look away but was frozen in terror as the man started pumping his body to the music. A cocky grin plastered itself across the man's face, far more charming than was entirely fair as Sanji's hands curled into fists on his knees and he prayed nervously to get through the next torturous few minutes.

There was no actual stripping happening, since the guy was already as undressed as he was going to get, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t put on a show. He knew exactly how to move his body in time to the music, and roll his hips on every beat to get the bridesmaids squealing; every motion and every touch of his hands was mesmerizing.

However, for Sanji it was akin to watching his reaper.

Leaning back as much as the chair would allow, Sanji tried to get as far away as possible even as the man drew nearer. Soon he was standing right in front of Sanji, watching him with a lust filled gaze and jerking his hips invitingly. Sanji shook his head pleadingly.

A small, unapologetic head shake was all Sanji got, and then the guy was stepping forward.

Running a hand sensually through Sanji’s hair, Sanji tried not to think about how strangely good it felt and instead just glared as the man revealed both of Sanji’s curled brows. Traces of a chuckle flickered across the man’s face, and before Sanji could get properly offended by that, the guy was pulling off his hat and pulling it snugly onto Sanji’s head. His bangs were still pinned back, but the hat thankfully covered his eyebrows.

Straddling Sanji’s thighs and placing a hand on the back of the chair, the stripper threaded his free hand through his obnoxious green hair and began rolling his body in a lecherous motion that made Sanji want to cry. Each rolling thrust brought the man’s junk dangerously close to Sanji’s face, and the way it flopped left nothing to the imagination as to how very real, and very big, it was.

Turning his face to the side with a painfully embarrassed grimace stretched across his face, his expression only goaded the bachelorettes to erupt into another round of raucous laughter. No one would be coming to his rescue. The situation was just as hilarious to the stripper, his own grin of enjoyment was spreading across his face before finally pulling his junk away from Sanji's wincing face.

The stripper dropped low to sit in Sanji’s lap and began thrusting his hips playfully, gaze intent as Sanji shut his eyes with a squeak and focused all his willpower to not think about how good the grinding currently felt. He was only a man, and there was only so much he could ignore someone rubbing up against his dick.

Damn it!

Eventually the guy pulled away, but he was still straddling Sanji in the chair. So Sanji kept his eyes shut and waited out the rest of whatever the man was going to do to him. Soon the song wound to an end, and Sanji dared to crack open an eye to see that while a few girls were still in fits of giggles over Sanji's current state of distress, many were already clamouring over their next request from the near naked man. While he became preoccupied, Reiju came over to quietly untie Sanji.

“You looked like you had a good time.” Reiju noted with a wry tone.

Sanji grumbled. "You know very well I didn't."

The second the ropes loosened, Sanji took his chance and darted from the room as fast as he possibly could, only slowing when he reached the safety of the kitchen and leaning against the counter wearily. His heart was making a fantastic effort at jumping out of his chest, and there was a stirring in his pants that was far too horrifying to even begin thinking about.

A shaky breath shuddered out of him, and then he slowly opened his eyes. Mind whirring with what had just happened and failing to rationalize any of it; only able to really think that literally anyone would react to having someone grind on their lap like that. It was just the natural response to things.

Grabbing a tray of used glasses, Sanji preoccupied himself with cleaning and polishing them for another round of champagne. Needing the monotonous task to take his mind off the fact that he couldn't quite get the image of the man in his lap out of his mind.

Something was definitely wrong with him.

Eventually the raunchy music came to an end and Sanji could hear as his sister put back on her own music for the evening. There were some mild conversations, and he could also hear a lot of the party goers heading back to the patio to enjoy their drinks in the garden. The party was returning to normal.

Thankfully.

“Hey.”

Fighting down a startled jerk, Sanji grimaced as he knew that husky voice had to belong to the only other man in the house. He had to force himself to relax lest he break the delicate stem of the glass in his hand, and reminded himself that the guy had only been doing his job.

Pausing his polishing of a champagne glass, Sanji carefully set it aside and whipped the towel over his shoulder while sliding his arms into a comfortably crossed position over his chest. Swivelling on a finely polished heel to face the man whose name he still didn’t know, despite knowing what the outline of his dick looked like. Sanji couldn’t bring himself to add any inflection as he irritatedly demanded, “What.”

Smirking, the man seemed to be expecting the reaction - or at least enjoying it - and arched a brow. “So, you the butler?”

“Brother.” Sanji corrected pointedly, keeping a shrewd eye on the other man as he continued to walk amiably towards the frazzled blond. It was a relief to see the man was at least dressed, body modestly covered by a pair of baggy black sweats and a grey hoodie. “What do you want?”

He flicked a finger up at Sanji, allowing the blond to remain confused for a few moments before remembering the officer hat that was still atop his head. A blush that reached all the way to his ears stained his face, and Sanji was quickly fumbling it off his head and nearly throwing it at the other man as though it had personally offended him.

"Heh." He breathed out a laugh and pulled the hat on his head with a cocky jerk.

They were standing far too close for Sanji's comfort, however backing away felt like losing so Sanji stood his ground; glaring at the stripper as the grin on the man's face only continued to get wider. He was devilishly handsome, though Sanji was loath to admit it after that the guy had just done to him, and the smile only made it worse.

Pulling a card from his pocket, the man held up with a flourish and then proceeded to slip it into Sanji's dress shirt pocket with a smirk. His eyes dancing with mirth, "In case you want round two."

Disgust curled Sanji's face, "I’d rather die."

With a smug shrug the man adjusted the strap on his bag, and titled the brim of the cop hat in a mocking manner before he turned to leave. Sanji watched him go angrily, until he realized he had been staring at the man’s retreating figure longer than was necessary and then pointedly turned away.

Going back to work while trying to forget the annoying man, but at the end of the night when he got home and remembered the card in his pocket, for reasons Sanji couldn't fathom, he slipped the card into his wallet.

~X~

With an aggravated huff, Sanji rolled over and glared daggers at the clock on the wall that told him it was still only a little past eleven oclock. Certain that it should have been later given how long he had been watching the shadow on the ceiling creep along as the sun had gone down; at some point he should have fallen asleep, but he hadn’t, and there was only one thing to blame.

His gaze flickered to his wallet on the nightstand and the business card that sat in it.

For the umpteenth time that past month he found his mind drifting to that card, and the man that had given it to him. He hadn’t thought it would have affected him at all, but in retrospect if he had known the amount of mental gymnastics getting roped into that chair would’ve caused, then he would have fought a hell of a lot harder to get away and never get that lap dance.

All that had been running through his mind the past several weeks was that stupid green haired man and what he’d subjected Sanji to. At work slaving over a hot stove for several hours had his mind constantly drifting to that dance, and when he was out running he’d start to fantasize about the man’s dumb smirk and his perfect teeth, and now - when he desperately tried to go to bed - all he could think about was how he had never felt anything so confusing about a man before and it scared the hell out of him.

It wouldn’t go away despite his best efforts, but he was absolutely terrified what giving in to the ideas would mean; he wasn’t certain he was ready to admit he might be a little less than straight, much less that he was potentially interested in a _stripper_.

There was no way in hell he could entertain the thought… was what he had thought, but several weeks, and a lot of sleepless nights later, he was beginning to think he needed to do something to solve this. He knew the solution; he was just building up the courage to do it.

Glancing back at the clock, he groaned aloud when only a minute had passed during his self-inflicted lamenting and he grabbed a nearby pillow to slam over his face as he screamed into it. He wanted to find that stupid, green-haired stripper and then use this pillow to suffocate him for doing this to him.

Once he got out a good yell and felt a tad less frustrated, Sanji lowered the pillow and sent the ceiling a scathing look as he knew it was time to just give in and get this over with. He had to buck up, face his proverbial demons, and confirm once and for all if this was all just in his head.

“I’m gonna kill him…” Sanji muttered to himself, throwing back the blankets and getting out of bed.

Angrily stripping down, he pulled on a pair of casual slacks and a button up, leaving the tie but grabbing one of his nicer blazers. He grabbed his wallet and keys, and gave his dark apartment a final glance over as he still couldn’t believe what he was doing and then stepped out.

Locking the door, Sanji slipped the business card free from his wallet and looked at it seriously for the first time in weeks. It was nice quality given the establishment, and the glossy stock was only slightly cracked from the time it spent in his wallet.

It was a simple black with only the word ‘Supernova’s’ emblazoned across the front in bright gold font; the ‘p’ was intentionally phallic and Sanji made a face. Flipping it over, he found the address stamped on the back, and was just relieved to find it wasn’t that difficult to get to; the hardest part was going to be actually walking inside.

~X~

A train ride downtown, a short walk later, and Sanji stood in front of the club

It wasn’t at all as Sanji had imagined. Everything about the area was incredibly classy and sharp, clean modern architecture made it feel like Sanji was at a high end club rather than a strip joint. However, the raunchy music descerinble through the doors and the erotic advertising out front let him know he was definitely at the right place.

Making a decent effort not to make eye contact with the bouncer as he checked his I.D., Sanji was soon inside and able to relax a little. Even though outside had seemed rather deserted, the place was packed - with mostly women - from bar to stage. Tables and booths were stuffed to capacity, and even stools at the bar were taken.

On the far end was a wall to wall aquarium that bathed the entire place in cool blue tones that were only further highlighted by the classy neon underlighting throughout the place. And apart from the stage, there were other platforms littered throughout that were probably used for entertainment purposes.

Getting a drink from the bar, Sanji once again avoided eye contact with the bartender, and immediately went to find somewhere to hide. Sitting at a table near the back and under the protection of a potted plant, Sanji settled in with his drink and tried not to seem conspicuous as he waited for the show to start. Despite his cool exterior, the ice in his glass rattled and gave him away, so he found himself sipping at it a bit too frequently.

It was later in the night, so the patrons were obviously pretty intoxicated, but it probably made them looser with their money. Sanji managed to get through a drink, and get a second before the next show started. Suddenly the clubs' already dim lights darkened further until the neon lights underneath the tables and lining the fishtank were all that kept the room from being thrown into total darkness.

Thumping, electronic music began to pulse through the speakers placed throughout the club, and Sanji could feel it vibrate the ice in his glass. Even with the deafening music, the excited screams of all the women crammed into the club could be heard, and as the spotlight zeroed in on the doors at the back of the stage the hollering reached a crescendo.

A man with attractively messy hair and a smattering of freckles burst through the doors onto the stage. He was met to raucous cheers, and Sanji used his free hand to cover his ear to protect it from the screaming women. It seemed the guy was a crowd favourite as several ladies were already on their feet, jumping up and down in excitement.

As the man made his way out to the end of the stage that jutted into the crowd, the curtains were pulled back across the main area and Sanji could vaguely see movement behind as something was being set up. He turned his attention back to the man who held a microphone and was now addressing the audience.

“Alright ladies!” He purred happily, roaming about the stage while greeting several women’s screams with warm smiles and waves, “I see a lot of familiar faces, but you know we need to go over the rules for the newbies here! Firstly, I’m your wonderful host for the evening, Ace; and it’s my duty to make sure they do the dirty and y’all leave feeling plenty thirsty.”

With a wink, Ace turned about and raised his arms to the crowd, “Think we can do that?”

As the club erupted into excited screams, Sanji could immediately see why this man was the host for the club. He had a warm charm to him, and his polite nature made him seem incredibly approachable. He started going over the rules, most of which had to do with touching - which were very liberal - and then onto how to volunteer for the stage performances; it was all explained very quick and with plenty of innuendo to keep the crowd excited.

“And finally, no ripping off the clothes;” Ace grinned cheekily, “they’ll come off on their own.”

Backing down the stage until his back was against the curtain, he glanced off stage and seemed to get a cue before turning back to the crowd. Arm raised as he crowded into the mic, “Alright, ladies. It’s time for the show! You know him as the enigmatic Law, but tonight he’s only going by one alias! Ladies…”

Sanji was having trouble hearing over the screaming.

“The Doctor,” Ace stepped to the side and pointed to the curtain, “is in.”

Once the freckled man had finished, he ducked off stage and everyone’s attention was on the curtains as they flipped open to reveal the set up. There were a few props on stage that would likely be used later, but right now the spotlight was centered on a man in a white doctor’s coat with his back to the audience. And on cue with the thumping music, the man turned around and began to dance.

~X~

Several more shows passed in the same fashion, each time a new guy coming up on stage to do some sort of gimmick. Bringing a woman on stage to partake in the show and inevitably ending it with an indecent lapdance that usually had the woman screaming happily and shoving far too much money into the guy’s g-string. One woman was even brave enough to do it with her teeth.

It all passed rather quickly, and Sanji made his way through a couple drinks as the shows themselves had been rather impressive to watch. He’d assumed it would just be a lot of pole work, and not much entertainment, but the people here actively put on a whole show.

Granted Sanji had spent half the time looking away whenever the men got really into the stripping portion of the evening, but there were dancing and theatrical parts he hadn’t minded watching. Still, he was incredibly relieved that beyond being a little impressed, he wasn’t feeling any of those weird emotions that he had worried would spring up when he saw a naked man gyrating.

By the time they neared the end of the solo shows, Sanji was feeling pretty confident.

“Alright ladies,” Ace purred into the microphone, “now who here likes going to the gym?”

A chorus of excited screams responded to the question.

“Yeah,” Ace sighed in agreement, his soft tone making a woman near Sanji nearly pass out as she screamed his name excitedly. “Yeah, I do too. I think my favourite is hot yoga; getting all sweaty and limber…”

It was so cheesy Sanji had to refrain from rolling his eyes, but at least the crowd seemed to be eating it up.

"Here he is ladies, he puts the lust in ca _lust_ thenics…” Ace winked and Sanji scoffed into his bourbon at the horrible stretch of a pun. A few more workout innuendos later and Ace was finally stepping aside with a flourish to the curtains, “Our very own gym rat; Zoro!”

Curtains pulled away, Zoro stepped out onto the stage, and Sanji felt his heart stop.

It was the green haired man from the bachelorette party, but this time he wasn’t dressed as a cop. He wore a racerback that draped low across his body, and a pair of snug fitting sweatpants; all of it really doing nothing to hide the body underneath that Sanji was intimately familiar with. Sanji had hoped that he had built up the man a bit in his head, but it seemed his memory just hadn’t done the man justice.

A pumping bassline was blasted through the speakers, and the rest of the club faded away as he watched Zoro on stage. Feet gliding across the stage and body moving to the music, it became quickly apparent that the man was incredibly adept; something Sanji hadn't exactly been able to see when the man was only a few inches from his person.

Each and every step the man took was sexually charged, and the motions of his body were filled with a carnal energy that practically oozed off the stage.

Crossing his arms and removing the shirt with a sensual fluidity that had Sanji sweating, Zoro tossed the shirt into the crowd before falling back into a smooth flex. Arms popping and chest tightening, he really knew exactly the right angles to properly show off his body. Taking a moment to let the crowd squeal before stepping back into his dancing with an effortlessness that was almost lazy.

Body and hips moving in time to the beat, making his way down the stage like he owned it. Pausing here and there to bop his hips to a rather sexual beat, and roll his body to the more sensual tunes.

When he got to the edge of the stage, he halted and slowly threaded his hands into his short hair and bit his lower lip while rolling his body to the next few thumps of the music. Everything from his expression, to his body language insinuated he was pretending to fuck someone, and when the women went wild and screamed, Sanji could feel himself get uncomfortably hot under the collar.

Downing a large portion of his drink, Sanji bit on an icecube in an attempt to cool himself down, but it didn't really do anything to help with the fact that Sanji's body felt like it had been lit on fire the moment Zoro had started moving his hips. He didn't want to think about what situation would cause Zoro to grind like that, but it was impossible not to.

Gulping down the rest of his drink, Sanji realized he may be in a little trouble.

Zoro jumped down into the crowd, and while it was harder to see, it was clear he was taking his time and giving some attention to the ladies in the seats closest to the stage. Sanji took that as his cue to get another drink, and by the time he was seated down again Zoro was busy bringing a lady up on stage.

Once there, Zoro made the show a bit more about her, and for her. After a bit of showy one in one dancing while she sat - that Sanji was overly familiar with - she was scooped up into his arms and he playfully used her to do a couple curls which had her giggling wildly. Before hoisting her up to sit on a shoulder as he casually flexed with the other arm.

She waved out to the crowd from where she sat, an ecstatic grin on her face.

After letting her soak up the attention, Zoro tossed her off and caught her effortlessly. Back in his arms, she all but swooned as he carried her back to the mainstage and sat her down on a different chair. With a soft murmur in her ear, she turned bright red and nodded happily.

Sipping intently on his drink, Sanji watched as Zoro went back out to the crowd and after minimal searching came back with a second woman. He got her on stage as well and had her sit in another chair as Sanji began to wonder where this whole show was going.

It was then he noticed the bar connecting the two chairs, and Sanji muttered in disbelief as he realized what was about to happen, “No fucking way.”

With little trouble and the ease of someone who had done it a million times before, Zoro hefted the bar up onto his clavicle and then jerked it above his head. The club erupted in screams and Sanji was certain he was going to leave the club deaf. Both girls squealed and were jostled a bit, but stayed safely in their chairs as they were now raised high over the man’s head.

Turning on stage to properly show off the girls to the crowd, and obviously taking time to expose his flexed body, a wicked smirk lit up the man’s face as he was clearly enjoying himself.

Planting himself at the edge of the stage, he then lowered the bar and began doing a few effortless shoulder presses that made Sanji seriously question if the show was rigged. Maybe there were strings or something attaching the bar to the ceiling, but with how the man moved about the stage Sanji knew he was kidding himself.

He simply didn’t want to admit the guy was that ridiculously strong.

After lifting them a few more times, Zoro dropped the bar onto his shoulders and did a few squats before letting the chair legs settle on the ground and ducking out from under the bar. He did a few more gimmicky lifts, including curling the bar a couple times before finally having the first girl give a twirl and take a bow before returning to the audience.

He completed the rest of his show with the second girl, including finally stripping out of his sweats until he was in that ridiculous jockstrap that left literally nothing to the imagination. There was an obscene amount of grinding as Sanji finally got a third person perspective on how it must've looked when Zoro had done that to him; the girl looked like she was enjoying it vastly more than Sanji had.

She was eventually returned to her table as well, and Zoro finished up the show as sexually charged as he started it, only far more naked. He did a final few crowd pleasing flexes, all cocky smiles and lascivious winks. And while it wasn't really noticeable, paused for only one moment when his gaze scanned past where Sanji was sitting.

There was nothing to prepare himself for when Zoro noticed him, and he felt himself cringe in horror the second Zoro laid eyes on him. He smirked wickedly and pointed at him while rolling his body with an obscene motion.

Sanji cringed in displeasure, and the lady beside him knocked over her drink in her excitement at presumably being noticed. He looked away immediately, and glared pointedly at the wall until he heard Ace's voice and he was certain Zoro was off the stage.

That hadn't helped at all… if anything it just made everything worse.

~X~

There were a few more acts that came out afterwards, and then Ace was announcing some sort of bidding for one-on-one time with a dancer of their choice. Most of the dancers came back out as nearly as naked as when they left, and a line formed at the stage of women, but Sanji was too busy staring at his drink.

He was only really pulled from his mollified daze when he glanced up and noticed that Zoro wasn't among the several men currently assaulting the women on stage with their pelvic thrusting. It got his attention and he sat up a little straighter, before a smattering of green hair in the crowd had him glancing over in a panic.

Dressed in his civies, Zoro made his way through the crowd of women largely unnoticed as they were all far too preoccupied with the naked men currently on stage. However, despite the show, Zoro was looking at Sanji and making a beeline for him.

Downing a large portion of his drink, Sanji muttered to himself, “Fuck.”

He had only a few moments to get himself under control, and then Zoro was coming to a stop beside Sanji’s table and laughing, “Hey, it’s the butler!”

“It's Sanji.” Sanji corrected instinctively. Leaning away, Sanji did nothing to hide his discomfort and raised his drink to keep something between them as a defense, “Please don’t put your dick in my face again.”

“Don’t worry,” Zoro chuckled, grabbing the back of a nearby chair and dragging it around to Sanji’s table before plopping down into it. A charming smile lighting up his face, “that’s only for paying customers.”

Once Sanji was certain Zoro wasn’t going to get back up, he lowered his tumbler back to the table and sneered, “No amount of money would make me go through that again.”

Zoro didn’t say a word, but there was a look in his eye that said he didn’t believe him; it made Sanji want to kick him under the table.

“So, you’re just out enjoying the nightlife then?” Zoro said skeptically, "Didn't think you were into this sort of thing."

“I’m not _gay_.”

“Uh huh, which is why you’re in a male strip club.”

Holding up his glass by way of explanation, Sanji drawled, “I’m having a few drinks after a long work week.”

“Dressed like you are,” Zoro made a point of looking Sanji over and he couldn’t help but feel like the man was purposefully undressing him with that stare. It made him want to squirm in his seat, “no one here is going to think you’re here for the liquor.”

Sanji had a sinking suspicion what the man was implying, but decided to role the dice and play dumb, “What?”

“Only one type of guy comes into a place like this in a suit,” Zoro smirked, “and he doesn’t just buy a drink and watch.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being well-dressed.”

“No, but you stick out like a sore thumb.”

“What do you want?” Sanji snapped.

“What do you want?” Zoro countered far more congenially, “You don’t want a dance. Came to get your rocks off?"

Lips twitching down in annoyance, Sanji clarified again, “I’m not gay.”

“That’s not a no.”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.” Bracing his elbows on the table, Zoro leaned forward with a playful look, “You clearly came here for a reason whether you want to admit it or not.”

“You’re delusional.”

“Am I?” Arching a sharp brow, watching Sanji with a skeptical look before snorting, “I don’t know why you’re not just admitting why you’re here. We both know it.”

“I--” Sanji balked indignantly.

Rolling his eyes, Zoro drawled, “If you say ‘not gay’ one more time…”

Scowl flickering, Sanji’s lips tightened at the interruption and said pointedly, “I was _going_ to say ‘I came to check something’.”

“Check if you’re gay?”

“No, I-- Ugh!” Sanji exhaled irritably at Zoro’s pestering.

“Okay, well, _whatever_ you were _checking_ ,” Zoro did not try to hide the fact that he enunciated each word with his own exasperation, “did you at least figure it out?”

Raising his glass, Sanji let it hover above his lips and knew the answer despite his reluctance. All he’d gotten out of this evening so far was more heated confusion, and a weird feeling of hateful lust for the guy currently sitting across from him. With a soft, “...no.” Sanji took a small sip of his liquor.

“Go out with me then.”

Hacking up half his drink, Sanji slammed his glass down through a wheezed, “What?!”

“I assume I’m part of this whole ‘checking something’ deal.” Zoro smirked, completely unfazed by Sanji wiping half of his sputtered up drink off his chin, “So we go on a date and afterward you’ll know whether or not you’re,” Pausing to raise his hands, Zoro very sarcastically used his fingers to do air quotations, “‘figuring stuff out’. Fair?”

Eyes flickering down to his drink, Sanji tilted the tumbler on an angle and watched as the remaining liquid tilted precariously within. He allowed his long fingers to trace along the edge of the glass for a thoughtful moment before righting the drink and glancing up shrewdly, “Presumptuous much?”

“Quit the act.” Pushing himself out of his chair, Zoro stood with his hands braced on the table as he leaned over Sanji, “You could’ve gone to any strip club tonight, but you came here because I was here, and I’m willing to play along with this little game of yours, but don’t think that means I don’t know the rules.”

It took all of Sanji’s willpower not to shrink back into his chair, but thankfully he’d had years of practice at remaining boredly impassive when under threat of violence. He remained calm, despite inside feeling himself begin to panic at being so thoroughly called out and refused to admit to anything. With a level glare, Sanji raised his drink to his lips and tossed back the rest before setting the tumbler aside.

“I’m walking home.” Was all Zoro gave by way of explanation, pulling his jacket on fully, and looking at Sanji expectantly, “You coming?”

Fingering his now empty glass, Sanji wanted to decline simply to prove the perceptive asshole wrong, however he knew if he left now he’d be just as anxious as he had been all month. He needed to stop being a coward and just hang out with the guy until he could confirm for real why this man was messing so much with his head.

Shoving his glass away and standing, Sanji met Zoro’s challenging look with one of his own and grunted, “Fine.”

~X~

Out in the brisk night air, Sanji felt some of his faculties return to himself as the booze was beginning to wear off and the stifling feeling of the club waned. They walked for a bit before Zoro broke the silence first and returned to his earlier goading.

“So,” Zoro broached with a bored yawn, “when you’re not sneaking into male strip clubs what do you do?”

“I don’t--” Cutting himself off, Sanji snorted an irritated breath out his nose and reminded himself that this was just the guy’s way of trying to get a rise out of him. Taking in a much calmer breath, Sanji acceded, “I manage a restaurant.”

“Oh, like McBuggy’s?”

A scandalized gasp squeaked out of Sanji before he could wrestle it down, and he looked at Zoro with abject horror as he seriously considered kicking the man there and then. He babbled inarticulately for several moments before managing out a choked, “How dare-- What-- You consider _that_ a restaurant?!”

“You eat food there.” Zoro shrugged, watching Sanji’s overreaction with mild humor, “What would you call it?”

“A fast food chain. An abomination. Garbage.” Sanji pointedly listed off, “But I would never deign to call it a restaurant.”

“Whatever.” Snorting out a laugh, Zoro rolled his eyes and huffed, “Okay, where do you work then?”

“No. _No_.” Sanji shook his head and threw his hands up. He glanced about to try ascertain his surroundings and seriously considered finding the nearest train station to take him home. No amount of curiosity was worth hanging with a guy like this, “I shouldn’t even still be talking to you after the insult you’ve paid me.”

Zoro groaned, “Holy crap. Would you stop being such a priss?”

“How _dare_ \--” Biting his tongue, Sanji felt his rage spike further as he realized his overreaction would just further prove Zoro’s point. He looked away and knew he was drastically losing this battle over getting through this walk without kicking Zoro in the dick.

It didn’t help that Zoro was looking at him with this cocky look like he knew he was winning something.

“The All Blue.” Sanji snapped, “That’s where I work; okay?”

“Oh yeah.” Zoro demeanour changed immediately, nodding with a fond smile. “We went there once; the sushi was good.”

“Wait… you’ve been?” Sanji asked incredulously, “And who’s ‘we’?”

“Yeah, the guy’s from work and I went once. I mean, they all had the burgers and stuff, but I really liked the onigiri."

A blush tinged his cheeks and Sanji was grateful that it was nighttime so Zoro wouldn’t see. He didn’t even know why he felt embarrassed when he admitted, "I made them."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Um… well, yeah.” Scratching the back of his neck, Sanji used it as an excuse to hide his face from the stripper and let his bangs hopefully hide his worsening blush. He gave an indifferent shrug and muttered, “I'm the only chef that's trained to make it; it's only on the menu when I'm there."

"Well, you're a good cook, cook."

“Chef,” Sanji corrected, “not cook.”

“What’s the difference?”

“I’m not getting into this with you again.”

It was hard to tell whether the man was being intentionally ignorant, or just blatantly uninformed; either one would bother Sanji, but picking the lesser of two evils was impossible. Either the guy was baiting him to get a rise, or he was a moron; neither of which Sanji really liked...

"Do you wear one of those tall white hats?"

"A _toque_?" Sanji corrected incredulously. His assumption was strongly leaning towards moron the more they talked. "And no, it's mostly just for show--"

"Yeah, then I ain't calling you a chef.” Zoro shook his head, steps faltering enough to playfully bump his shoulder against Sanji’s. "You cook food, you're a cook."

"Well-- You're just a--"

"Yes?" Zoro looked expectantly, almost lasciviously hopeful.

"An ignorant… green-haired…" Sanji floundered as he knew it would be too obvious to tease him about his job. Looking the musclebound jerk up and down before stammering, "gorilla."

"Phft! Hahaha!" Laughter exploded bodily from Zoro, and Sanji just stood fuming as Zoro managed, "That the best you got, cook?"

"Shut up!"

"No." Zoro chirped.

Pausing in his goading to glance past Sanji.

"You--" Sanji cut his annoyed response short as he turned and followed the man's stare, noticing a deserted playground on the other side of the road. Looking back confused only to find the green-haired moron already walking away.

“C’mon.” Despite his urging, Zoro didn’t wait for Sanji’s confirmation as he was already crossing the street when he glanced over his shoulder at Sanji. “When was the last time you swung on a set of swings?”

“I don’t know.” Eyes rolling back with a bored drawl, Sanji glanced at the man with unhindered exhaustion, following after him despite his apprehension. Not at all trying to hide his disdain as he sneered, “Probably when I was still pulling girls’ pigtails.”

Unaffected and still grinning, Zoro arched a brow, “So, last week?”

“Har. Har.” There wasn’t a hint of hilarity to Sanji’s monotonous laugh. Gaze shifting to the poorly lit playground that was illuminated only by a single streetlamp, and then back to Zoro with an unconvinced moue, “Isn’t it a little weird? Middle of the night, two grown men in a children’s playground?”

“You gonna make it weird?” Rounding on Sanji with a smarmy look, and snorting, “Going to pull your dick out or something?”

That had Sanji stopping dead in his tracks, jaw falling open at the incredulous accusation, and face contorting as he tried to process it. Eventually raising his hands with two indignant fingers raised and scoffing at Zoro, “If _anyone_ here was likely to pull their dick out, it wouldn’t be me.”

Zoro cackled, “Touchy.”

“It’s pronounced ‘touché’.” Sanji sneered.

“Not what I said, Mister Touchy.” Zoro smirked, and jerked his head towards the swingset, “Now come on, and quit being such a moron.”

Without waiting for a response, Zoro took satisfaction in Sanji’s initially disgruntled expression and made his way over to the entryway of the mediocre park. Sanji’s nose scrunching up in annoyance at the man’s infuriating comments and cast a quick glance down the sidewalk, debating whether or not to just ditch him now.

An exhausted sigh exploded from Sanji, and then he was turning to follow after the stripper; not wanting to let him get the last jab in. Catching up near the see-saw when he asked, "Are you this rude to everyone you date?"

"So you're admitting this is a date?” Peeking at Sanji out of the corner of his eye, he waited just long enough for Sanji’s face to get red and for him to begin blubbering in denial before scoffing. Waving Sanji off as he muttered, “Naw, just the annoying ones."

"It's a wonder you're single." Sanji muttered to himself.

Zoro snorted, "Well, what's your excuse?"

"I beg your pardon?!"

At some point tonight Sanji was definitely going to kick this guy in the dick.

"You heard me.” Stopping in front of the swingset, Zoro rounded on Sanji with a critical eye while shucking his jacket off, “I at least have the excuse of my job; I wonder what it is about you that makes you repel women?"

“I do just fine.” Sanji sniffed, hating that his eyes flicked down - for even a moment - to glance at just how well the tight black shirt fit. Sinfully, was the word that came to mind, but wasn’t one he had ever used to describe a man before and Sanji was seriously considering he might be losing his mind. “For your information.”

“Suuure.”

Tossing his jacket aside and walking away, Zoro took one of the swings and immediately started to push himself. Sanji immediately followed after with a quick demand, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

Grabbing one of the chains, Sanji held tight to keep Zoro from continuing to swing and waited until the man gave up and rounded on the blond with an irritated look. Happy that he’d gotten the man’s attention, he gifted him with a threatening smile and repeated, “ _What_ was that supposed to mean?”

“Just that if you had a girlfriend you wouldn’t be hanging out at strip clubs.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Alright.” Zoro amended with a heavy eye roll, “You wouldn’t be checking out strip clubs if you were with a _fulfilling_ girlfriend.”

“You--” Letting go of the chain and stepping back, Sanji grumpily crossed his arms as there was no way for him ro really argue that. He fumed for a few moments, Zoro watching with a bored mien, before Sanji grumbled, “Yeah, okay. Fair point.”

“Look, I’m bored with this whole conversation.” Kicking off the ground and throwing himself back into the swing, Zoro got a decent swing going as Sanji turned away. He was still scowling over being argued into a corner by Zoro, and he was just debating finally leaving when Zoro shouted, “I bet I can swing higher than you.”

Spinning on his heel, Sanji glared at him, “What are you? Five?”

“Are you saying I win?” Zoro grinned cheekily.

Heaving an incredibly dramatic sigh, Sanji stomped his way back over to the swingset and threw himself into the worn rubber seat. Holding onto the chains that held a chill despite the warmth of the summer night and pushed himself off the ground to get himself started. It wasn’t long before he got himself properly going, and was soon getting the swing as high as he possibly could.

They swung for a while, before Zoro declared, “I’m higher.”

“No, you’re not!” Sanji shouted, “Are you _blind_?”

“Are you?!” Zoro sneered back, “My feet are clearly going farther.”

“No, they’re not! You’re hallucinating.”

“Don’t be such a sore loser, cook.” Sticking his tongue out, Zoro stopped swinging as aggressively settled back into a comfortable pace. He leaned back heavily in his swing while still casually kicking his legs and informed rather haughtily, “It’s not cute.”

“I’m not cute.” Sanji snarled.

“Yeah, you got that right.”

“Shut up.” The insult was becoming almost a reflex at this point in response to all of Zoro’s quips, he was finding it difficult to put as much venom behind it each time. “Hey, betcha can’t do this.”

Sprawled lazily in his swing, Zoro stopped kicking his legs and let the momentum keep him moving as he watched Sanji, “What?”

“Watch.” Getting a few extra kicks in to make sure he had as much height as possible, Sanji leaned forward as he swung forward. At the arc of the swing, Sanji tilted back in the seat and threw his legs over his head. He released the chain at the last moment and back flipped onto the waiting sand, stumbling only a little on the uneven ground and turning with his arms raised with a flourish - and a grin at having managed to pull it off after over a decade, “Ta-dah!”

“Ha! Child’s play, cook.” Zoro barked, mimicking Sanji’s swinging before throwing himself off the swing in the same way. He managed to pull it off fairly effortless - much to Sanji’s chagrin - and then turned to Sanji with a smug look, “Ther--”

A second later his witty comment was cut short as the swing came back and clocked him in the back of the head.

“Oh shit! Phft-- Hahaha!” Sanji burst into laughter that he immediately tried to stifle. Pressing the back of his hand to his mouth as he stepped closer, “No, sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine.” Zoro waved him off while rubbing the back of his head. “Just caught me by surprise.”

“Well,” Sanji smirked once he knew Zoro was okay, walking back to his swing and tossing over his shoulder, “it’s what you get for calling me cook.”

“What should I call you then?” Zoro snorted and gestured to Sanji’s curled eyebrows, “Curly?”

“Oi!” Sanji snapped at the even worse nickname, watching as Zoro walked by and barking, “I have a name!”

“Nope, you’re Curly now.” Zoro grinned, falling back into his swing, “Mr. Pervert Curlybrow who goes to strip clubs.”

“You _work_ at one!”

“Yeah, but I don’t watch." Zoro smirked, "Check that."

“It’s check _mate_.”

“Again.” Zoro drawled, kicking off the ground into a lazy swing, “Not what I was trying to say. Mr. Corrector Pervert Curlybrow McPrissypants.”

“You know,” Sanji mused, “you’re making this whole decision _real_ easy.”

“Falling in love already, cook?” Zoro scoffed, “You did seem the mushy type.”

“No-- You--” Sanji balked before growling furiously. Zoro had this nasty habit of saying shit that he couldn’t defend against, but also couldn’t get pissed about without somehow losing to him; it was the most infuriating thing. After a few seconds of angry sputtering Sanji simply fell back into his own swing and muttered, “No. Shut up.”

Zoro just chuckled.

“Enough about me; what about you?” Sanji attempted to switch the conversation around, tired of letting the man be the one interrogating him all evening. “Is that all you do?”

Still lazily rocking his body to keep himself swinging, Zoro glanced over and arched a brow, “Hm?”

“Strip.” Sanji clarified.

“Oh.” Zoro grunted. He seemed a little thrown by the question but shrugged it off, “Yeah.”

“Not putting yourself through medical school or something?”

At that, Zoro actually smiled.

There was something wry about his smirk as his gaze flickered back to Sanji and he chuckled, “Are you hoping?”

It occured to Sanji that it was such a cliche question, and one that the man had probably heard a million times before that Sanji was now embarrassed he had asked it. Looking away, Sanji pretended to be fascinated with the trees a little ways off, “No, just curious.”

Dragging his foot aggressively across the sand, Zoro forced himself to stop and leaned forward while gripping the chains of the swing. He watched Sanji with a critical look, "I get it.”

Using his heel to stop himself as well, Sanji sat in his own swing and watched Zoro. Despite the playful look the other man was gifting him, Sanji still somehow felt like he was on the defensive when it came to Zoro’s gaze. Sanji swallowed and frowned, “What?”

“If I'm doing it for some virtuous reason then it makes it okay.” Zoro explained, “Then you can rationalize a way to not find it demeaning or immoral.”

Suddenly the humid night felt uncomfortably stifling and Sanji grunted, “I didn't say that.”

“It's what you meant.”

Every excuse Sanji had died on his lips and he felt inexplicably guilty for being called out on exactly what he had been unconsciously thinking; he hadn’t even realized his own intentions to his questions until Zoro threw them back in his face. Hands tightening uncomfortably on the chains, Sanji stared at the sand beneath his shoes and couldn’t bring himself to respond.

A startled laugh burst out of Sanji, shaking his head as he hadn’t expected that his evening would turn out like this. In a park, with a stripper that was awakening _very_ confusing feelings he hadn’t known he had, and being put in his place so thoroughly.

“You’re right.” Chuckle dying down, Sanji glanced up and nodded graciously, “You’re absolutely right.”

“Didn’t think I’d ever hear you say something like that.”

“I can admit when I’m wrong.” Sanji shrugged, then pursed his lips, “On the rare occasion that I am.”

“How’s it feel living in denial?”

“Oi!”

“Heh.” Snickering happily to himself, Zoro casually hopped off the swing. He put his arms above his head and clasped his hands in a languid stretch that had his body tightening in a hard arc. A content grunt grumbled from him.

It was then that Sanji realized he was staring, and he blinked quickly and shook himself before asking, “Can I ask something else?”

“Do whatever you want, cook.”

Obviously stuck with the name, Sanji chose to just ignore it, “Did you always want to be a stripper?”

Finishing his stretching by propping his hands on his hips and leaning his neck to the side to crack it before repeating it on the other side. Rolling his neck a few times before glancing at Sanji and answering shortly, “Yup.”

“So when you were a kid,” Sanji’s eyes narrowed, “you dreamed about taking your clothes off for money?”

Crossing his arms, Zoro didn’t miss a beat, “Absolutely.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Muttering skeptically, Sanji kicked off the ground and forced the swing to spin around. He spun, keeping his foot dug deep into the sand to keep from unravelling and glanced around the tangled chains, “No kid wants to be a stripper.”

“You don’t have to believe me.”

There was something about the lazy, dismissive answers that felt off. Granted, Sanji had only known the man for a few hours, but he was starting to get an idea of his mannerisms. And while he couldn’t place it, something about the way Zoro was replying didn’t feel completely genuine.

"You're lying." Sanji declared suddenly, certain.

Stepping forward, Zoro slowly reached out and grabbed onto one of Sanji’s chains. Brows drawing together in false contemplation, Zoro was clearly mocking him, "Am I?"

“Yes.”

“Why do you think that?”

Gaze pinned on Sanji, Zoro slowly started walking a circle around the blond and began twisting the chains up further. Sanji let him for a few revolutions before saying, “You have a real reason, but you don’t want to tell me.”

Quizzical, Zoro frowned, but it was obvious he was still teasing Sanji, “And why wouldn’t I want to tell you?”

“Cause you don’t know me.”

“Is that it?”

“Mhm.”

Without confirming or denying Sanji’s claims, Zoro came to a stop and used both hands to hold the chains in place to keep Sanji’s swing from unravelling. He glanced up at the tangled mess of chain above and then back down at Sanji, currently seated in said swing. A playful grin was on his face, “Ready?”

“Duh."

Zoro smirked and let go.

It took a few moments for the swing to begin to unravel, but once it did it got going pretty fast and Sanji tucked his feet in. Everything was a blur, but it was way easier to hold on than he remembered when he was a kid. His head started to feel heavy just as the swing slowly came to a stop, and he dug his feet into the sand to make sure it wouldn't wind up the other way.

“See…” Hands buzzing as they held weakly onto the chains, Sanji was able to shake off the worst of it as he grinned up at Zoro, "Easy."

"Yeah, you sure showed me." It sounded like Zoro had meant to be a bit more scathing, but his tone was almost too soft for his words. Then he was stepping in close and Sanji's body started buzzing for an entirely different reason.

Just as Zoro began to lean forward, Sanji's eyes bugged in a panicked realization of what he was about to do and quickly looked down to avoid it. Staring awkwardly at his feet for several moments and when he didn’t sense Zoro stepping away, began digging nervously through his pockets. In an attempt to play it off Sanji fished out a cigarette and lit it, pocketing the lighter with shaking hands as he puffed nervously.

At that Sanji finally saw Zoro's feet step back, and paused for a moment before turning away and Sanji watched out of the corner of his eye and Zoro went and picked up his jacket. Once out of earshot, Sanji let out a relieved sigh mixed with a heavy stream of smoke; somehow he'd managed to escape.

Pulling his jacket on, Zoro turned back to Sanji and seemed entirely unfazed. He gestured towards the gate to the park, "Wanna keep going?"

Sanji just nodded.

They made their way out of the park, Zoro pleasantly quiet despite having just had his kiss rejected, and Sanji smoking beside him anxiously. A few blocks passed, the playground long gone as they made their way down a rather gorgeously lit neighbourhood.

A cigarette later and Sanji had the strength to pester Zoro again, "Tell me the truth.”

Keeping his tone casual, Zoro didn’t even look at Sanji when he muttered, “About what?”

“What you wanted to be when you were a kid?”

“Hm.” Shoving his hands into his pockets, Zoro hummed thoughtfully and glanced about. He almost seemed to be genuinely considering it before rounding on Sanji with a mischievous smirk, “I will if you'll tell me the truth first.”

Incredulous, Sanji echoed Zoro’s previous words, “About what?”

“Why won't you let me kiss you?”

Sanji missed a step, and stumbled into his next stride, continuing in pace beside Zoro but with much redder cheeks. His hand shook when he plucked his cigarette from between his lips and blew out a quick stream of smoke, hating that the man’s words managed to literally trip him up so badly.

“I told you,” Sanji huffed, finally getting the courage to look back up and frown at the still grinning jerk, “I'm not gay.”

“And yet,” Zoro drawled, “here we are.”

Sanji’s eyes narrowed, “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I said, Curly.” With a shrug, Zoro continued to make his way down the street, “You could have left at any point; instead you're hanging out with me in the middle of the night. It’s the weekend, you could be doing literally anything else.”

“Well, that's not--! I mean, you can't even comp--! How does that--!” Sanji balked, flailing about as he tried to defend himself before slamming his foot down like a child and barking, “Shut up!”

Pivoting on his heel, Zoro rounded on Sanji with a knowing grin. It made Sanji want to kick the smug guy right in the face, or maybe do something else to that face that he still wasn’t ready to admit to himself. It’s not like he had been disgusted by Zoro trying to kiss him, he’d just been mortified that he _hadn’t_ been disgusted by it.

“So…?” Zoro prodded.

“I already answered your question.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I did,” Sanji sniffed, “you just didn’t like my answer.”

“Well," With a disappointed sigh, Zoro turned and began walking away, "when you feel like being honest then I will too.”

“That’s not fair!" Sanji chased after, "I mean, you-- woah.”

They rounded a corner onto a more secluded street with a large field sprawling out into the night. Trees and brambles made it seem dark and ominous, except of the flickering lights currently flitting about amongst them. Glowing fireflies made the small forest seem immensely larger.

This time it was Sanji that left the sidewalk and left Zoro to follow.

Bugs weren’t Sanji’s thing - he couldn’t handle beetles, spiders, or moths - but there was something about the ethereal glow of a firefly that was entracing. He stopped in the middle of the field and turned about with a happy smile as the glow and the encroaching darkness made it feel like he was staring out at a field of stars.

Reaching out a hand, he waited patiently until one landed on his hand and settled with a flutter of its wings, the light flickering to a more tame glow now that it was no longer in motion. He watched it quietly until it's wings unfolded and it took flight once more, Sanji tracking it and turning until he noticed Zoro a few yards away.

Bug forgotten, Sanji stared at the man currently unaware he was being watched. Arms grumpily crossed, but his head tilted back as he stared about at the dozens of fireflies circling around him. The faintest, most gentle smile was barely touching his lips, but it made him look infinitely more approachable.

"Shit…" Sanji cussed as he turned away. Zoro wasn't supposed to look like that, he wasn't supposed to make Sanji like that he looked like that.

It wasn't fair.

Glaring out at the field of fireflies, Sanji was beginning to realize that this whole 'figuring stuff out' was becoming more complicated by the minute, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, Zoro wasn't supposed to be easy to talk to, he wasn't supposed to be strangely cute, he wasn't supposed to make Sanji feel _things_.

When Sanji turned back around, he had to bite back a squeak of surprise.

For the second time that night Zoro was standing uncomfortably close. And he still had that oddly soft expression on his face that was so forgein it pinned Sanji to the spot and made him unable to look away.

Suddenly, Zoro's hand was slipping up to slide against Sanji's throat, and though the touch was gentle it felt like Sanji had been pinned in place. Skin tingling eagerly with every caress until Zoro’s hand settled fully, cupping the back of Sanji’s neck and dragging an unintentional gasp out of Sanji.

It was immediately followed by another full faced blush, but this time Zoro didn't grin at him like he'd managed to win, instead the softest of smiles crooked the corner of his mouth. His eyes were a lidded pool of warm ocher. And Sanji realized with growing horror that he actually found it all incredibly attractive rather than repulsive.

He was even more horrified once he realized Zoro was leaning in with the intention to kiss him, and Sanji was perfectly okay with it.

Trying to keep the other man in focus, he felt his eyes begin to cross and his breath hitch as Zoro’s whiskey smooth breath washed across Sanji’s lips and his mouth began to water. Unconsciously wanting to know if the man tasted nearly as good.

Far too terrified to lean in, he stood waiting for the eventful kiss when a firefly suddenly flew between them, halting Zoro’s motion. Effectively cutting the tension as the moment ended and Sanji felt like he could breathe once more. Ducking his head the moment his mental faculties returned so that Zoro couldn't get the opportunity to try it again.

With a small huff, Zoro pulled away and scratched his neck absently.

On the outside Sanji tried to remain calm, but internally he was freaking out. His breathing felt uneven, his skin was on fire, and he didn’t want to look down to confirm that his hands were most likely shaking.

Zoro hadn’t even kissed him, but already he felt unhinged.

Fumbling through his pockets, he located a lighter and a cigarette and immediately filled his mouth with the acrid smoke in a lame attempt to forget the whiskey sweet taste his tongue was still aching for. Busying his mouth before he got any ideas about asking Zoro to just follow through already and end the mystery.

Sanji wasn’t sure what the hell was happening to him.

These past few weeks had definitely unnerved him, but in the span of a short evening Zoro had effectively torn down all the carefully constructed walls he had built. All the intricate facets of himself felt like they were falling through his fingers.

At the beginning of the evening Sanji would’ve killed the man for kissing him, and now he would kill for a kiss from the man.

Again, Zoro didn't look particularly disappointed by his kiss being rejected. He had this bored indifference like he'd found out they were out of his favourite brand of milk and now he was mildly inconvenienced by having to pick another. It was almost infuriating; having the man be so calm when Sanji felt like his sanity was holding on by a thread.

With a soft sound, Zoro reached out and brushed something off Sanji's shoulder and it was a testament to everything that had happened that evening that Sanji no longer flinched when Zoro reached towards him. Sanji wasn't certain if that was a good thing or not.

Sanji just decided to arch a brow in question.

"Spider." Zoro grunted.

"Hahnn…" A pitiful noise wheezed out of Sanji and then he was screaming while wrestling his blazer off with lightning quickness. Throwing it to the ground - only momentarily cringing over how expensive it was - and then proceed to stomp on it several times for good measure.

Zoro watched the whole thing passively.

“Ugh.” Chewing nervously on his cigarette, Sanji rubbed his arms to try and get rid of the crawling feeling still on his skin. “I can still feel it on me.”

“Wow.” When Sanji was eventually done dancing about making sure there was nothing else on him, Zoro finally spoke up with a dry drawl. Staring down at the jacket currently stomped into the grass and then up to Sanji, "That was cute."

"Go fuck yourself." Sanji seethed.

Zoro glanced down at the trampled coat, "You gonna pick that up?"

“Hell no!” Sanji yelped, “I don’t know what could be on it!”

“Probably dirt.” Bending down to scoop up the coat, Zoro absently brushed it off, “And grass. Where are you going?"

Sanji was already striding quickly out of the forested area and towards the visible sidewalk.

“I’m getting out of this infested _hell_ before anything else happens.”

“You mean, before you start crying.” Zoro goaded.

"I'll make _you_ cry." Sanji hissed over his shoulder, "So watch yourself."

A soft scoff was Zoro's reply, but he looped the jacket over his arm and followed after Sanji regardless. And when he caught up he only teased Sanji for a few more blocks.

~X~

They continued down the streets Zoro guided them, and while Sanji had long lost his bearings since allowing Zoro to lead the way, he couldn’t help but feel like they were going in circles. He kept his mouth shut though, not wanting to _correct_ Zoro on which way it was to his apartment; it would certainly earn him a snippy response if he questioned him. However, they had been walking for a bit, and while they had left the club rather late, traces of light were beginning to crest the edges of the sky.

Emerging from the forested neighbourhood, they wound up on a paved walkway that curled down towards one of the many city beaches that littered the city. At the sight of the beach, confusion and dawning horror had Sanji glancing at the stripper, “Hold up. Where do you live?

Pointing lazily towards the other side of modest bay and the towering apartment complexes overlooking the harbour, Zoro said, “East Blue Heights.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Pressing a hand to his forehead, Sanji mentally mapped out the route they had taken before realizing they’d done a ridiculous loop to land them where they were now. If Zoro’s apartment was a few blocks from Alabasta Beach, then they could’ve skipped the park entirely and walked here straight from the man’s work, “So you took me the long way round on purpose, you ass?”

Zoro at least had the grace to look genuinely confused, “What are you talking about?”

“We could’ve just taken Grand Line Boulevard from your work, straight past here to your apartment.” Sanji huffed, “Instead you take me up to Jaya and back, over an hour detour.”

“I usually take a cab.” Zoro shrugged, “Besides, everytime I walk it takes about that long anyway. There’s always a random park or something.”

“Oh my god.” Sanji bemoaned, throwing an arm dramatically across his face, “Oh my god, I let a directionally challenged moron drag me all over the city.”

“Oi!” Zoro actually looked indignant, "The streets moved, it's not my fault!"

"Your inner compass, and reasoning, are both flawed," Sanji huffed, "congrats."

"I get where I need to get. And just for that--" Zoro sniffed and dropped Sanji's coat childishly on the sidewalk. Turning towards the beach and muttering, "Besides we got here just in time anyway."

"Hey!" Sanji barked, halfway through picking up his coat and asking, "For wha--" when Sanji realized what the man meant and put his foot down, " _No_."

Before Sanji had the chance to grab his arm and keep him from wandering off, Zoro was already striding across the grass and towards the deserted beach. Not for the first time, Sanji looked about helplessly as he considered leaving. Hating himself and heaving a deprecating sigh, he couldn’t believe he kept following after the - clearly - directionally challenged jackass. Stomping after Zoro while dragging his ruined coat behind him.

Zoro stopped just shy of the damp sand and immediately stepped out of his shoes and toed off his socks. Kicking them in haphazard directions while shouldering his jacket off and throwing it aside. Sanji caught up as Zoro’s hands fell to the hem of his shirt.

Purposefully looking away, Sanji busied his gaze with a particularly fascinating stick in the sand as Zoro proceeded to follow up the jacket with his shirt and then his pants. He tossed them into a messy pile on the sand as Sanji pointedly looked anywhere but the mostly naked man standing a few feet away from him. It didn’t matter that he had seen him just as naked before - or even this evening - there was just something so much more intimate about it now.

“You coming?”

Head snapping around, Sanji made the mistake of glancing right at the man and felt himself nearly choke on his tongue. Aside from the fact that the man was ridiculously fit, and the fact that the early morning light made him look statuesque, and the fact that Sanji was seriously starting to feel the stirrings of arousal in his pants...

Zoro was also still wearing those god _damned_ stripper underwear.

It took everything in Sanji not to look down for longer than a moment, but it was a difficult task and the way Zoro’s junk tested the limits of the g-string did not make it any easier to look away. Sanji stared at Zoro’s face intently, practically glared, and purposefully ignored the way it felt like the stripper’s junk was staring at him.

Zoro arched an expectant brow.

With a heavy sigh, Sanji knew there was no way out. He gave up and neatly folded his dirty jacket up before placing it on the sand next to Zoro’s haphazard heap of clothes. Shoes soon to follow. His hands inevitably halted on his shirt as Zoro stood watching patiently, and Sanji was suddenly very aware that the man was about to see him mostly naked.

Pausing with a grimace, he could already sense the grin growing on Zoro’s face and forced himself to continue despite his reservations. It wasn’t like he was self-conscious, or that he thought Zoro was in better shape than he was, but it was invariably different getting undressed in front of someone who was interested in him rather than just a stranger.

Getting the last button undone and forcing back the tremble in his hands, Sanji shucked the shirt from off his shoulders and purposefully folded it while ignoring the burning gaze he felt beside him. Setting the shirt down neatly on top of his jacket and then removing his pants in the same pointedly embarrassed fashion.

When he stood in nothing but his briefs and his pants had been set aside, Sanji crossed his arms and turned to look up defiantly at the other man only to find him looking at Sanji’s neatly folded clothes with a smirk. Eyes flicking up to Sanji as he smirked, “Cute.”

“Shut up.” Sanji snapped with a flash of teeth. Storming past Zoro towards the calm early morning water, not going to give the man time to say anything else about his clothes, or him. Feet splashing through the first few inches of gently curling seawater and biting back a yelp at how cold it was.

It was summer, but before the sun had fully risen the ocean was still rather chilly. He had to take a moment to adjust before wading in deeper, getting to his thighs when Zoro came striding by and dove in next to him with an obnoxious splash and a cascade of water.

This time Sanji did yelp.

"That's _fucking_ cold, you giant asshole!"

Zoro surfaced with a satisfied chuckle.

Swimming away with gentle strokes and leaving Sanji dripping and fuming. Taking a few steps deeper, he held his breath while the water crept over his waist and waited through the worst of it as he got accustomed to the cold. Releasing a sigh, when he had adjusted and then finally dropped bodily into the water and kicked off the sand to swim after Zoro.

They swam along the coast for a stretch, Zoro spent half the time lazily on his back, kicking as he let his eyes fall shut. Once Sanji had caught up, he treaded water for a while and watched as the horizon had been stained pink with the rising sun, and the water they were in had gained a golden hue. By the time half the sun had risen, Zoro had already circled back down the coast to where they had left their clothes.

Kicking off the sandy bottom, Sanji quickly swam back along the shore to catch up with the other man. Getting fairly close before taking a deep breath and diving under the cool surface the final few yards before reaching Zoro.

Tilting his head back and slowly gliding back to the surface, he broke the water with a soft exhale and pushed himself to his feet. Water sluicing down to pool back into the seawater around his hips. He let his head fall back with a happy sigh as the feeling of the humid air on his skin felt amazing after being in the water.

Dropping his head back down, he ran a hand through his hair to get some of the water out of it, but paused when he noticed Zoro watching him. He let his hand fall back into the water and glared at the stripper, “What?”

Wading forward with slow steps, Zoro stopped just shy of him and his eyes flickered across Sanji’s unobstructed face. He reached out a hand and Sanji stilled with a nervous tremor, but allowed Zoro to brush his thumb against the corner of Sanji’s brow, “Cute.”

Smacking Zoro’s hand away, Sanji quickly messed up his hair once more so the wet bangs could at least cover his forehead, “Yeah, whatever…”

“I’m serious.”

“No, you’re making fun of me.” Turning away with a snarl, Sanji could vividly remember how Zoro had smirked when they had first met and he’d ran his hand through Sanji’s hair to expose his embarrassing eyebrows. That taunting look of humor was hard to forget. Keeping his back to the man, Sanji gestured towards the beach, “You keep doing it; you did it when I was folding my clothes, and you’ve been doing it all evening.”

“Maybe I’m being serious, but playing it off so you don’t get scared.”

“Ha! Scared?” Turning with a messy splash of water, Sanji scoffed at Zoro, “Of you?”

Tracing a bored pattern in the water, Zoro shrugged, “You kinda look like you’ve wanted to bolt all evening.”

It was getting annoying how well the bastard could read him, but there wasn’t exactly anything he could do about it. He apparently sucked at fooling him, and lying didn’t seem to work either. Sanji was just becoming exhausted from having to care about it at this point.

“I did.” Sanji admitted softly, mouth twisting as he corrected, “I do.”

“Why?”

He asked it like he knew the answer, but just wanted to hear Sanji say it.

“I’m getting out.” Sanji avoided the question, walking away slowly through the water. Zoro might have been good at guessing what was going on through Sanji’s head, but that didn’t mean he was going to get anything out of him. Two could play at this game.

Zoro didn’t press, and after a moment of lazily floating and watching Sanji storm off, followed.

Back on the beach, Sanji squeezed as much water from his hair as he could, before resigning himself to wet hair for the next hour or so. Glancing about as he realized that getting into his clothes while wet was also going to be a bit of a challenge.

“Great, no towel.” Sanji huffed, glancing sidelong at Zoro who was digging through his things, “Didn’t really think this through, did you?”

Snatching up his shirt, he began towelling his hair off with his shirt while turning bodily to face the horizon and murmuring, “The sun is rising.”

“Yeah,” Sanji drawled, “that’ll help.”

Zoro dropped his shirt to the ground and picked up his jacket, shaking it loose of any sand and then laying it out as neatly as possible. He then plopped down on half of it and comfortably crossed his legs as he looked out at the pink horizon and the first traces of sun beginning to stain the sky.

When Sanji didn’t initially follow his example, Zoro glanced at Sanji and jerked his thumb at his jacket, “We need to wait to dry off anyway.”

“No, I couldn’t--”

“Sit.”

Lips pressing into a tight line, Sanji refrained from kicking the guy for bossing him around and instead heaved a - rather dramatic - sigh, before dropping down to sit next to him. There wasn’t much space, and Sanji found his shoulder bumping against Zoro’s, but it was otherwise amiable. He ignored any other awkward feelings and instead focused on the horizon.

A glorious sunrise was beginning to crest the still waters.

Whether by accident, or deceptively incredible planning, Zoro had somehow managed to make this evening one of the most romantic evenings Sanji had ever spent with someone. He’d had fantastic dates, but nothing he had done had ever aligned so naturally as this night had.

Stripping aside, the night had been kind of perfect.

Charming, albeit a little cliche, the playground had been sweet, and getting to see that field full of fireflies was lovely; if he had taken any girl on such a movie-perfect evening then he would’ve had her swooning. And now they had wound up at the beach just in time for a swim before the sun rose. It seemed too perfect to be coincidental.

Perhaps it had all been a perfectly constructed evening.

Or maybe Zoro’s luck was just that great.

For some reason Sanji desperately wanted to believe that it was the latter, and Zoro simply possessed superhuman luck when it came to things like this, because the other explanation was far more sinister. It wasn’t that hard to believe that perhaps this was just the fabricated romantic evening that the guy used on everyone he met and wanted to get into bed with.

Even if it was, Sanji was terrified that he may have already fallen for it.

"So,” Speaking into the silent morning air, the word felt so loud with how empty the beach currently was, his voice feeling coarse. He kept his gaze pinned on the still ocean water, but could see Zoro turning to look at him as Sanji asked, “how often does the whole 'being a jerk' thing work out for you?"

Zoro was quiet.

"I dunno.” He finally admitted with a shrug that jostled the jacket they sat on, turning back to look out at the rising sun and added with a rather bored tone, “I'll let you know tomorrow."

Horror dropped like a cold stone in his gut, and Sanji feared that his guess was going to become a sick reality. That managed to get Sanji riled enough to turn a glare on the man, "Are you trying to be funny?"

"No."

"What was all that about you teasing people that are annoying?"

"It's just you."

“That’s annoying?” Sanji’s eyes narrowed as he tried to follow Zoro’s thought process, “Or…?”

Zoro shrugged, “Both.”

It was hard to believe given how flirtaious he had seen the guy, not to mention with his line of work Sanji couldn’t imagine he was hard pressed for partners. And yet somehow this guy was single and just happened to be interested in Sanji.

That seemed highly unlikely...

"How should I know you're not lying?"

"What would I have to gain by lying about something like that?" Zoro drawled, eyeing Sanji with dawning realization, "Unless, you're rethinking my date offer, but it depends on if I'm a player or not?"

Keeping his mouth shut, Sanji cursed the perceptive jerk and how well he was at reading Sanji’s mind. He refused to admit it, but knew his silence was just as incriminating.

With a heavy sigh, Zoro grunted, “I don’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“Date. Flirt. Whatever you want to call this.”

“Bullshit. I saw you at the bachelorette party,” Sanji snorted and poked him in the arm, “and this whole evening.”

“Yeah, for work.” Zoro grunted, “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“You’re a pretty good actor then.” Sanji surmised, “How do I know this isn’t part of the whole show?”

“You want the truth?” Exasperation was clear in Zoro’s tone, but there was also a level of vulnerability to his voice that Sanji had heard a few times that evening. And just like Zoro, Sanji was beginning to realize it was a lot easier to read the other man than he had expected. “Here it is. I’ve been doing this job for years; I’ve been groped by every rich lady and closeted businessman in this town, and most people willing to date me either want something weird out of it, or find out what I do and can’t handle it. I stopped dating, and up until a few weeks ago I was pretty indifferent about all of it.”

Sanji instinctively wanted to ask what changed, but couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“I did that party and I thought you were hot, but were clearly so straightlaced that it was hopeless.” Shaking his head, Zoro shrugged, “I saw you tonight and realized I had a shot.”

“Phft.” That earned a snort of flat laughter from Sanji, watching the man fondly and asking, “How d’you figure?”

“Why won’t you let me kiss you?”

“What’s that got to do with anyth--”

“Why won’t you,” Zoro cut Sanji off with a pointed look, leaning closer as he murmured the rest of his question with a much softer demand. After their dip in the ocean the whiskey was long gone from his breath, but Zoro’s aroma still washed over him in an intoxicating wave, “let me kiss you?”

When Sanji swallowed, it sounded so loud in his ears that he was certain Zoro must have heard, and his uneven breathing wasn’t helping either. Steeling himself, Sanji looked up and met Zoro’s honey warm gaze, bathed in the glow of early morning sunrise. Knees feeling weak despite being seated as he admitted on a single exhale, “‘Cause I’m terrified I’ll like it.”

The corner of Zoro’s mouth twitched in the barest hint of a smile, and he leaned in; Sanji not pulling away for the first time that evening. Lips grazing Sanji’s in the barest of touches before he murmured against them, “That’s why I have a shot.”

“Your hubris is incredibly annoying.” Sanji mumbled back. Not daring to move the last couple of millimeters to complete the kiss, but unable to move away. Not wanting to move away. “I’ve wanted to kick your ass at least ten times tonight.”

“You have anger issues and dress like a prude.” Zoro countered, and flashed his teeth in a grin, “But I’ve wanted to kiss you, like, ten times tonight.”

“You’re a directionless moron.”

“You cry when you get spiders on you.”

“You dye your hair green.”

“You don’t wear socks in your shoes.”

“They’re loafers.” Sanji sneered, “You’re not supposed to.”

“Your snobbiness is incredibly annoying.” Zoro mimicked Sanji’s earlier comment.

“Snobbiness isn’t a real word.” Sanji countered, unable to stop himself from smiling as he willingly allowed himself to correct the man despite the stupid nickname he would no doubt be called. Lips curling and grazing Zoro’s once more as he corrected, “It’s ‘snobbishness’.”

“Yeah, that.”

Allowing himself to be corrected for the first time that evening, Zoro’s eyes fell shut and that melted bronze was the last thing Sanji saw before his vision crossed and Zoro was kissing him. His own eyes closing a second later as he leaned into the timid kiss that was so much gentler than what he would have expected from the brute, but at the same time so passionately charged that no other kiss could compare.

Fireworks skittered across his skin leaving it electrified, and carbonated soda rushed through his veins making his body tingle; Sanji felt himself buzzing from the top of his head to the end of his pinky toe. It was beyond perfect, and then Zoro slanted his mouth and licked insistently into Sanji’s.

After that Sanji felt his brain turn to mush. He surged into it with all the intensity he had been keeping leashed that night and soon they were kissing like they were still arguing. A heated give and take of tongue and teeth, heady and urgent, but easy and relaxed. Zoro’s hand found its way to cup Sanji’s neck, holding him into the kiss and squeezing desperately, and Sanji's hands threaded up into soft, messy hair that he never wanted to let go of.

Time faded away, and Sanji kissed Zoro until long after the sun rose.

When they eventually separated, it felt like Sanji had only barely quenched the massive, indescribable thirst he had for Zoro, and more than anything he wanted to lean back in. His lips were swollen, and his hands had cramped from clutching Zoro to him so desperately.

Disentangling himself from the man with great reluctance, Sanji sat numbly beside Zoro as he very slowly came to terms with what had just happened. It didn’t help that his lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him and the fatigue hovering around his head made it feeling like he was spinning. He tried to blink away the heavy feeling weighing him down and focus on what the hell he was supposed to do now.

The sun was well above the horizon now, bathing both of them in a radiant halo, their shadows slowly elongating as Sanji could only focus on his lips and the sensation of Zoro’s still pressed against them. Using his thumb, he dragged it across the corner of his mouth and along his lower lip to wipe off any excess saliva and then let his hand fall numbly into his lap.

Dragging his legs up so he could hug them to his chest, Sanji dropped his head between his knees and tried to stave off the urge to hyperventilate. His whole body was currently buzzing the way it did after having a particularly good cigarette, and while he was severely tempted to grab a smoke, he couldn’t risk letting go of himself and potentially falling apart.

This hadn’t been how he had intended the evening to go.

It was supposed to be simple; he would go to the strip club and confirm it wasn’t his scene, and then even if he was still iffy then he could get to know the stripper and realize it was just weirdly charged hormones or something. He’d find out that Zoro was actually a jerk, or something.

Instead Sanji had discovered that Zoro was annoyingly charming despite his abrasive exterior, and he could be downright sweet when he wanted to be. He wasn’t a jerk, and that should’ve been a good thing, but it just meant that now Sanji felt like his world was falling apart.

“Did that, uh…” Zoro coughed and politely cleared his throat before trying again, “help you figure anything out?”

Sanji didn’t trust himself to speak so he just nodded.

“Good,” Zoro broached cautiously, “or bad?”

That was the question, wasn’t it?

All Sanji could manage was a hopeless gesture.

Everything was suddenly too stifling, and sitting next to Zoro, half naked, really wasn’t helping. A burning panic was starting to make his skin feel clammy. He was still freaking out, but moving would at least distract him.

Jumping to his feet, Sanji pointedly ignored Zoro’s soft stare and focused on getting dressed. Stumbling into his pants and shoes as Zoro did the same, eventually getting his shirt back on and starting on the buttons when he realized his hands were shaking too much to even do up the first one. He kept slipping up, but it was the only thing keeping him from breaking down right now so he just kept trying until a hand was placed on top of his.

Bodily jerking, Sanji then went stock still as he stared down the warm hand placed reassuringly across his own; all of his shaking halted. He was terrified to look up when he knew Zoro was standing so close, but he could feel Zoro demanding it through his body language alone.

Cautiously, Sanji looked up.

Gently releasing Sanji's hands, Zoro shifted his hand over to press against Sanji’s chest and held it there to feel the rapid beat of Sanji’s panicking heart. He wished he had better control over it right now, but this was too big for him to keep calm. It didn’t help that Zoro’s palm was large, and warm, causing Sanji’s heart to stutter.

Gone were the cocky smirks, and triumphant posturing, in their place was just sincere concern and a gentle smile, “You’re really freaking out about this, huh?”

Embarrassed and shaken, Sanji just nodded again.

Looking almost apologetic, Zoro reached out and began to quietly do up the buttons on Sanji’s shirt with swift ease. It was incredibly embarrassing, but Sanji didn’t say a word; he knew he couldn’t do it right now, and he was already embarrassed enough.

At least by the time Zoro was done Sanji didn’t feel like he was going to faint anymore.

“What do you want to do?” It was odd hearing the man be so quiet and polite, and Sanji glanced up as Zoro’s hands fell away. He watched Sanji with a soft look, “We can find you the nearest train.”

“I'll finish walking you home.” Sanji managed out softly, feeling a bit more in calm, “I can at least do that.”

Nodding simply, Zoro slung on his jacket and then quietly showed them the way. Sanji followed after as they fell into a silent stride side by side. Zoro walked as casually as he had all evening, like nothing in his life was any different, but in comparison Sanji felt like he was stumbling through his sexual awakening. He’d spent almost three decades being certain that he liked women, and now he had kissed a man and all he wanted to do was do it again.

Having forgone it for too long, Sanji wrestled a cigarette free at the nearest opportunity and lit it up with relish. He clutched the smoke and inhaled the precious lifeline to his reality. The small bit of tobacco feeling like it was the only thing keeping him from falling to the pavement and having a full blown panic attack.

Without even realizing it, they had come to a stop in front of a tall apartment complex a couple blocks back from the beachfront. Even though it was obvious why they stopped, Sanji still paused to take in the place before turning to Zoro with a look of - what might possibly be - semi-permanent befuddlement. Everything in his life from this moment was just going to be met with dazed confusion.

Glancing up at the building and back to Sanji, Zoro inclined his head in an obvious invitation, “So?”

It was so open-ended; it gave Sanji the freedom to pretend none of this ever happened. He could find the nearest train, go to work tomorrow, and continue on with his life in blissful denial. No one would have to know, no one would get hurt; everything could go back to _normal_.

But what if he didn’t want normal?

Normal had gotten him rejected countless times, and his heart broke nearly as much. Normal was coming home to an empty apartment, and throwing himself into his work to keep himself occupied. Normal meant not feeling like his body was on fire at the mere thought of kissing Zoro again.

Maybe normal wasn’t working.

Blowing out a final stream of smoke and flicking his cigarette, Sanji turned back to look at the man, “Yeah, alright.”

~X~

They took the elevator up to one of the higher floors, but Sanji wasn’t really paying attention to any of that, he was far too preoccupied getting himself ready for what he had agreed to. He was terrified, but another part of him was buzzing with excitement, and when Zoro got the door to his flat unlocked Sanji decided to just throw himself into it before he had second thoughts.

Tossing his keys on a side table by the door, Zoro glanced back just as Sanji moved to kiss him, “Want some coffee, or--”

Stumbling back with genuine shock and dropping his jacket, Zoro met the kiss with momentary hesitation before grabbing Sanji's jaw in a commanding hold and leaning in. Once more Sanji felt like his blood had been lit on fire, and his body was aching with how badly he needed to be touched.

They stumbled out of their shoes and down the hallway, far too entangled with each other to watch where they were going, until Sanji managed to back Zoro up against the nearest wall, kissing him desperately and groaning happily into it. Shaking hands sliding down Zoro’s hard body as he got used to touching somebody much larger, and harder than he was used to.

Deciding to run with his momentary confidence, Sanji slipped his hands under Zoro’s shirt and caressed his fingers up the chiseled muscle he found underneath. It wasn’t what would usually get him going, but being able to feel that much raw power under his hands was its own rush, and the appreciative moan from Zoro had a surge of arousal punching through Sanji with far more vigour than he would have expected from just a bit of touching.

Spurred on by Zoro’s happy groans, Sanji wrestled Zoro’s shirt up until they were forced to break their kiss so Sanji could drag the shirt off his head. He tossed it somewhere over his shoulder before immediately returning his hands to Zoro’s body and raking them over hard muscle with increasing eagerness.

It had terrified him the first time he had seen the man naked, but now he was becoming addicted.

“You’re…” Sanji’s voice was so hoarse he didn’t recognize it, but it was the last thing on his mind as he slid his hands up and palmed Zoro’s hard chest. Fingers digging into the thick muscle, he fully understood for the first time why the woman at the club had done something similar and was a little in awe that right now this was just for him. He glanced back up at Zoro who watched him with an entertained look and managed, “incredible.”

A fondness softened Zoro’s face, and he was murmuring, "Didn't think I'd ever get a compliment out of you."

"Better appreciate it then." Sanji licked his lips nervously, “I don’t give them often.”

That made Zoro grin; then he was kissing Sanji with fervour.

Flipping them around, Zoro pinned Sanji roughly to the wall and worked a leg between Sanji’s. He pressed in close, and Sanji stilled when he felt a matching hardness grind up against his own, but before he could think about how new that sensation was, Zoro was expertly rolling his body and grinding his hips against Sanji’s. After that, all rational thought went out the window.

Because Zoro _knew_ what he was doing.

Arms wrapping around Zoro’s neck, Sanji whimpered against Zoro’s lips and held on for dear life as he hoped he didn’t come in his pants. Zoro reciprocated the moan with a pleased hum, pausing to nip at Sanji’s lips before pinning Sanji against the wall when he deepened the kiss. Sanji’s hips trembled as Zoro grinded their lengths together, and his knees began to buckle.

Zoro must have noticed, because the next thing Sanji knew his legs were being hiked up to wrap around Zoro’s waist and the stripper was holding him off the ground. Hands sliding up Sanji’s thighs to grip his ass, Zoro thrusted Sanji into the wall with a few sinfully amazing rolls of hips, before stepping back and carrying Sanji down the hall.

They got a little further into the apartment until Zoro set Sanji down on a small table and leaned back enough to start tearing impatiently at Sanji’s shirt. He didn’t even seem to be _trying_ to undo the buttons, and when Sanji felt the threads start to give out he finally felt the need to say something.

“Oi!” Sanji tore his mouth away from Zoro’s and barked, “Unlike you I don’t own tear-away clothing!"

Mouth falling to Sanji’s throat, Zoro sucked playfully with intermittent chuckles, however his motions gentled enough so he could properly undo the buttons. Gasping at the feeling of Zoro's teeth on Sanji's throat, he felt a whole new surge of lust rocket through his body. He moaned happily when Zoro finally got his shirt open and dragged rough hands over Sanji's trembling body, his mouth dropping lower to bite Sanji's collarbone.

Reaching back a shaking hand to find something to support himself on, Sanji knocked over several items and sent them clattering to the floor. There wasn’t a sound of anything shattering, but he still tried to glance down and make sure he hadn’t broken anything, “Ah, shit, sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Murmuring the words absently while pressing a biting kiss to Sanji’s stomach, the blond nearly knocked over a lamp as well as he struggled to find purchase on the table as Zoro only further backed him up onto it. Sanji wheezed as Zoro palmed him through his jeans and comforted, “I’ll pick it up later.”

“Shit-- I’m--”

Popping the button free with deft fingers, Zoro’s teeth clamped down on the zipper tag and slowly pulled down to expose Sanji’s already straining erection. He couldn’t handle the heated stare the stripper kept watching him with, so Sanji let his head fall back and panted up at the ceiling in a mild panic.

Still coming to terms with the fact that he was about to let a man suck him off.

Albeit, an objectively very attractive man with a penchant for getting Sanji’s blood boiling with a snide comment and wicked smirk. It was only logical that now he was getting Sanji’s pulse racing for a slew of other reasons; least of which was that he was looking at Sanji like he wanted to eat him, or something equally nefarious.

“You--” Choking himself off with an embarrassed whine, Sanji scrunched his eyes shut as he felt Zoro’s stifling hot mouth move to suck at the base of his cock through his briefs. Fabric quickly growing wet with saliva as Zoro slid his mouth up and tightly wrapped his lips around the head. “Fuck!”

Elbow buckling, he knocked the lamp over and snapped his head down to see Zoro catch it easily without ever taking his mouth off of Sanji’s length. He wanted to call him a stupid show off, but couldn’t find his voice while he watched, hypnotized, as Zoro set the lamp down on the carpet and then proceeded to pull the waistband of Sanji’s briefs down, exposing his embarrassingly erect member.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t gotten a blowjob before, in fact, he had received some fantastic ones throughout his dating career, but there was something about this - something about Zoro - that had him so much more riled. Every lick and caress had his body trembling, and he was already nervous enough without having to worry about arriving early.

There was no more playful sucking, or tentative licking, Zoro grabbed a hold of Sanji’s length and dipped his head down until the head of Sanji’s cock was pressing into the back of his throat. Completely unprepared for the sudden velvety heat engulfing him, Sanji wasn’t able to react beyond letting out a moan mixed with a shout.

Zoro’s lips pulled back in an obvious smirk, but didn’t make any comment as he set to work.

“Hah. Hah. Fuck~” Laboured pants accompanied his curse, and Sanji reached up to run a distressed hand through his bangs. He tried to get a handle on himself, but with Zoro’s mouth on him and his knees threatening to give out, there wasn’t much keeping him from breaking at the moment. Clutching his hair to his head, another moan slipped out as he pleaded, “Unnhh, oh fuck please…”

Peering up, a glint of humor flashed across Zoro’s face as he pulled off and replaced his mouth with his hand despite the disappointed sound that slipped past Sanji lips. Stroking lazily as his gaze flickered up to Sanji’s exposed forehead and he grinned, “Cute.”

Dropping his hand quickly, Sanji let his sweaty hair fall back messily into his face, but didn’t trust himself to speak beyond a shrewd glare that spoke volumes. Eyes sparkling with mirth, Zoro placed a reverrant kiss to the length of Sanji’s cock before turning back and engulfing it once more with purposeful intent.

"Oh, _fuck_!" Sanji groaned.

Zoro's hands slid down Sanji's body and held the blond's hips in a commanding grip. He pinned Sanji back against the table and then began swallowing Sanji down as deep as he could. With each hard suck Sanji felt like his brain was melting and leaking out his ears, and he realized all too quickly that he wasn't going to last much longer if Zoro kept doing _that_ with his tongue.

Grabbing an aggressive handful of Zoro’s hair, he ripped the man off his cock and panted heavily as he tried to reign himself in. He was dangerously close, and it was a battle of wills to keep himself from just emptying his load right onto the man’s face; that thought alone brought him close to spilling.

Loosening his grip, Sanji cracked open an eye when he felt a little bit more in control, “I’m going to come.”

“That’s the point, isn’t it?”

Shaking his head, Sanji panted, “I’m here to do the whole thing; we’re not only going halfway.”

Zoro was back on his feet in a flash, pressing a greedy kiss into Sanji, and before Sanji could really think about tasting himself, Zoro was hefting Sanji into his arms and throwing the blond bodily over his shoulder. It was horribly degrading, but with Sanji’s pants caught around his thighs this was much easier than shimmying them back up and walking down the hallway.

Still, Sanji was unimpressed and muttered, “You’re the worst.”

Groping Sanji’s butt, Zoro chirped, “Nice ass.”

“I hate you…”

Down a small hall, they were soon in Zoro’s room, and Sanji didn’t get a chance to look around the place before Zoro was tossing Sanji on the bed with a predatory growl and crawling on top of him. He got Sanji’s pants and briefs the rest of the way off in a single motion, and practically ripped the shirt from him as he pressed Sanji back into the bed; when Zoro’s lips returned to his, it was met with a needy gasp.

Kissing Zoro eagerly, his hands trailed down the broad back and over a lean waist, coming to settle on the man’s still clothed hips. His hands shook and a nervous chill skittered across his skin, and then Sanji was shaking off any final reservations and dragging Zoro’s pants over his hips to reveal his hard length.

Sanji had seen it several times while in underwear that had left little to the imagination, but it still hadn't prepared him for what it was like to see erect. Part of him wanted to crawl away in terror, but another part was strangely enraptured; it was a lot like his, maybe a bit thicker.

He'd never wanted to put a dick in his mouth before, but he was curious...

“Do you want…” His gaze flickered down and he peered up at Zoro while hoping the man would understand what he meant. “You know…”

A bright grin lit up Zoro’s face, "Thought you said you didn't want me sticking my dick in your face again?"

"Yeah, I said a lot of shit." Sanji snapped, cheeks gaining a healthy blush at having his bluff called, but at this point he could care less. There were much more important things going on right now than worrying about Zoro being _right_ , "A yes or a no would've sufficed."

“It’s your first time with a guy," Zoro reasoned, "I’m not going to fuck you and make you choke on my dick.”

“Wow.” Sanji drawled, “What a gentleman.”

"And I don't even have to wear a stupid suit to be one."

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry,” Zoro amended without a hint of apology to his tone, “Prissy suit.”

“I mean…” Propping himself up on his elbows, Sanji sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get anything better, “I’ll take it.”

“Yeah, you will.” Zoro smirked.

“Not if you keep saying shit like that.” Sanji snorted. He glanced down at their matching achingly hard lengths and then up to Zoro expectantly, “I assume we need lube now?”

Pressing a hard kiss to Sanji’s lips, Zoro sounded sincerely disappointed when he pulled away, “I’ll be right back.”

A moment later Zoro was leaping out of bed, and Sanji was left sprawled on the sheets hard and wanting. He still had enough wherewithal to shout after Zoro when he left the room, “Don’t get lost.”

There was muted thudding as Zoro ran back in long enough to give Sanji the bird, before running off again. A fond laugh bubbling out of Sanji at how much he enjoyed being able to still banter with the guy even now, and he was surprised to find himself this calm despite what he knew was coming next.

Skidding back into the room with lube and a condom in hand, Zoro basically threw himself back in bed as Sanji assumed it was probably a good sign the guy didn’t keep those items readily on hand in his nightstand. And that was pretty much the last rational thought Sanji had before grabbing Zoro and dragging him down into a filthy kiss.

Zoro wasted little time pouring out some lube, grabbing Sanji’s dick with the other and working it as he dropped his slick hand between Sanji’s legs. Before Sanji had the opportunity to change his mind, or start freaking out, Zoro slipped a finger inside while thumbing the tip of Sanji’s cock.

It was enough to distract from the initial burn, but couldn’t entirely stop Sanji from arching at the residual stretch and gasping quickly, “Hurts.”

“I’ll make it feel so good.” Zoro crooned. Keeping his hand carefully still as the other lovingly worked Sanji length in an effort to distract him. His body still shivered at the intrusion, but Zoro’s talented hand and husky voice were enough to get him to start relaxing, “I’ll make you feel so good. I promise.”

“You better.” Sanji winced, “I’m not going through this for a bad time.”

Zoro chuckled, then proceeded to stop talking.

Ducking down to replace his hand with his mouth, Sanji gulped sharply and bucked his hips into the wet heat as Zoro thrust his fingers in deeper. It hurt, but not as much as when Zoro first inserted it, and with Zoro’s tongue working magic he was soon back to being fully erect.

At first it was largely unpleasant, but true to his word Zoro knew what he was doing and soon he was pumping the finger into Sanji with ease, and Sanji felt his body going from nervously tense, to desperately taut. His hips started to buck back into the motion as the moment his body adjusted, it immediately started craving more. By the time Zoro had worked his way up to three fingers Sanji was trembling.

Threading a shaking hand through his hair, Sanji clung desperately as he muttered, “Holy _fuck_ …”

It was so damned good, but he still wanted more. Not something that he had been expecting, but once he got used to the burn and his body had relaxed all he wanted was more. And fingers just weren’t enough. He needed to be properly filled, and by something that could do more damage.

If he had known it would feel this good he would’ve tried it sooner.

Hands shaking and cheeks burning, Sanji reached down to tangle his hand in Zoro’s hair - still in awe of how soft it was - and yanked the man off his length. Needing a moment to take a few calming breaths before he all but demanded, “M-more.”

Zoro looked a little shocked, but quickly recovered with a feral grin.

Removing himself from Sanji, he went about pulling on the condom and lubing his length up while Sanji bit down a needy whine at being left empty. He didn’t have to wait long though, because a second later Zoro was back between his legs and looking down at him readily.

“How do you want to do this?”

It took several moments for Sanji’s arousal fogged brain to process the question, and when he did he was confused, “What’re my options?”

“It’ll be easier from behind, and I’ll be able to go a lot deeper.” Zoro’s calm explanation was slightly undercut by the dick he still had grasped in his hand, “Front I can see your face and it’s more comfortable.”

“Uh… behind?” That sounded best right now he supposed, and clarified, “If it’s easier.”

“Alright.” Zoro slid a gentle hand up Sanji’s thigh, and he realized that for once the man was being sincere. It was a little odd, but it was helping to keep Sanji calm for what was about to happen.

Flipping onto his stomach, Sanji tried not to think about how embarrassing it was and instead focused on what was to come. Finding it oddly hot when Zoro grabbed him and manhandled him - Sanji knew he'd have to have a moment of introspection about _that_ at a later date - into a better position before straddling him.

When the tip pushed passed the first ring of muscle Sanji whimpered, but choked down his cry for him to stop. It was so much more than just a few fingers, but the ache in his chest wouldn’t have had Zoro stop for anything.

Halfway in, the stretch was intense, and Zoro halted to give Sanji a reprieve. Waiting until Sanji got his breathing better controlled before asking, "Ready?"

It was really hard to sound flippant when so out of breath, but Sanji managed it, "Duh."

A moment later Zoro was pushing forward, the last bit of resistance giving way, and he was sliding all the way in with a wrecked moan being forced out of Sanji. He tangled his hands in the sheets and held on as his body shuddered at the sensation of being so filled.

It was so much better than just his fingers.

“Fuuuck,” Zoro cussed with a breathless groan. Running a hand through his erratic hair as the other fell so he could thumb at Sanji’s opening. The touch had Sanji’s body tensing on reflex and a whimper slipped out at the feeling of Zoro filling him up. “You feel _so_ good.”

Sanji wanted to say something clever, but all he could manage was a filthy gasp of agreeance.

With a hand holding Sanji’s hip and the other braced on the bed, Zoro slowly started rolling hips and Sanji finally got confirmation that all that thrusting on stage really was exactly how Zoro liked to fuck. Granted, he never had someone fuck him before, but he’d also never slept with someone that knew how to move their hips like that. He already had his eyes rolling back as Zoro’s thick length was sliding up against something inside him that was making it difficult to breathe.

It was nearly impossible to keep his eyes open, so Sanji let them fall shut and buried his face into the pillow, focusing instead on the complex pleasure currently rushing through him. His whole body felt lit up, and each thrust sent sparks racing up his spine. He felt so filled, so full, and he never wanted it to stop.

“Unhg…” Groaning through the next couple thrusts, Sanji managed to mutter, “Harder…”

“Heh.” Zoro chuckled thickly, “Didn’t think I’d get you begging.”

“It’s-- fuck! Oh fuck~” A curse and a groan interupted his snippy comment as Zoro made a point of snapping his hips down hard when Sanji had tried to speak. He kept up the punishing pace and Sanji needed several moments to keen happily in pleasure before biting out his response, “It’s not begging; it’s an order.”

“Oh?” A laugh mixed with Zoro’s pants, but the cocky nature of it was undercut by how breathless and wrecked he sounded, “You bossing me around now?”

“Only when you need instruction.” Sanji was just as short on breath, and every word wavered with each poignant thrust from the man, but he managed to keep the quip biting. Taking a moment to moan happily as he rode back into the next couple thrusts before stopping and smirking up at Zoro, “Like how you don’t seem to understand when I say harder.”

A predatory look darkened Zoro’s face and he was grinning that wicked smile of his, leaning down to wrap his arms more securely around Sanji. He brushed his lips past the shell of Sanji’s ear and breathed, “Don’t complain later.”

“I’ll try to stay awake.”

Sanji could feel Zoro’s teeth brush against his jaw as the man grinned, and then he was pulling away to press a commanding hand into the small of Sanji’s back. Pinning him to the bed and straddling his legs, before snapping his hips down as hard as he could into the blond; setting a punishing pace that had Sanji keening happily into his pillow.

“Hah. Unh.” Zoro growled through each heavy pant, “That better?”

Nodding mindlessly into the bed, it was all Sanji could do as he continued to angle his hips back as best he could to meet the intense pace Zoro was pounding into him. It was everything Sanji needed, and it was causing him to reach his peak faster than he would’ve liked, but he couldn’t stop it. He didn’t even need to lower a hand to assist himself along; Zoro’s perfect hips were thrusting at this perfect spot inside him that was making his peak inevitable.

“I’m gonna--”

A few perfect thrusts later and Sanji was spilling his load onto the bed, hands tangling in the sheets as he groaned and was thoroughly fucked through his orgasm. His utterly spent cock twitched against his stomach, each thrust rubbing it into the wet sheets.

Several thrusts later Sanji could feel Zoro stiling, pressing himself as deep as he could and groaned happily, but that was all Sanji could tell through the tremors still wracking his body. His body felt like melted butter, and he wasn’t certain he was ever going to have the strength to move again after having an orgasm like that. He hardly even felt it when Zoro pulled out.

There was some momentary shifting that Sanji was still too braindead to understand, but then Zoro was flopping down on the bed beside Sanji and hauling him into a sweaty embrace. It was rough and stifling, and Sanji should’ve hated it, but could only lean back into the hold with a happy sigh.

Every fibre of his body wanted to collapse into sleep, but it was getting to be mid-morning and Sanji was beginning to wonder if he was overstaying his welcome. Without a word from Sanji, Zoro’s arm tightened around his waist and he murmured into tangled, blond hair, “Stay.”

It effectively shut Sanji up and he accepted his fate, allowing himself to finally give in to his exhausted body and shut his eyes.

~X~

It was horribly bright when Sanji opened his eyes, and it felt disconcerting to be waking up when the sun was at its highest peak and a hot summer breeze was wafting in through the open window. Pressing a hand to one of his eyes, he attempted to rub some of the fatigue away and adjust to the blue skied afternoon that was attempting to blind him.

Getting an elbow under him, he glanced around Zoro’s spacious bedroom, and then down to the man that still had an arm hooked around Sanji’s waist. Zoro was dead asleep, looking a lot less imposing when he was sprawled on his back, snoring loudly, with drool trailing from the corner of his mouth. Sanji wanted to be repulsed, but instead found himself curling his lip back at the unnerving fact that the sight was somehow endearing.

It seemed like Sanji had officially lost his mind.

Ignoring that fact, Sanji untangled himself from the blankets and out of Zoro’s hold, kicking his legs out of bed. Nervously pushing himself to his feet, he was relieved - and somewhat shocked - to find that nothing hurt despite the horror stories he had heard. He’d thought Zoro had been a bit too thorough last night, but apparently it had been worth it.

“Where you going?”

Glancing back, Sanji found the man still half asleep in a mess of blankets, but was conscious enough to absently rub the drool from the corner of his mouth. He frowned, still hating that he found that cute, and said, “Taking a leak.”

Without any other words of complaint, Sanji made his way to the ensuite bathroom and he left Zoro to check his phone for the time. Judging from the sun, it was probably about two in the afternoon, and Sanji was just glad he didn’t have any work or engagements to answer for.

Having to explain that he was late because he hooked up with a stripper would be hard to sell.

Once he was finished, he poked his head back out to find Zoro sprawled dramatically in bed, already snoring once more. Sanji cleared his throat and once he saw Zoro stir, asked, “Can I use your shower?”

Through a yawn, Zoro replied, “Can I join you?”

It was a strangely hot idea, but also had Sanji panicking as he knew what showering together led to, and despite being a red blooded male, he wasn’t certain he was quite ready to go at it a second time. In the sobering light of midday, Sanji was still trying to come to terms with the decisions he had made last night(morning) and what it meant about himself.

Doing it again so soon would make it too real.

“Wow, breath.” Zoro chuckled, and Sanji realized at some point he must have sucked in a breath and forgotten to release it, “I was joking. Take all the time you need.”

Too embarrassed to say anything more, Sanji just nodded gratefully and ducked his flushed self back into the safety of the bathroom. After a quick shower where he tried not to think too hard about what had happened last night, he felt a bit more human, and bit more dignified without cum dried to his stomach.

It was also nice to get the dried sea salt out of his hair.

Drying and styling his hair as best as he could without a comb, Sanji wrapped a towel around his waist and finally stepped back out into the bedroom. He felt like he could handle everything a lot better now. Never one to take for granted the rejuvenating abilities of a hot shower.

When he stepped out, Zoro was just returning from the hallway. He had a pair of boxers on, and he looked much more awake; though Sanji could still spot the remnants of drool on his cheek. Jerking his thumb over his shoulder and muttering, “Coffee’s in the press. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”

“Hey.” Sanji smirked and pointed at Zoro’s boxers, “You do own normal underwear!”

“Ha.” Zoro laughed flatly, making a point to playfully push Sanji as he walked by, “Do you wear your work clothes at home?”

“No,” Sanji conceded, and then smirked as he remembered the beach, “but I don’t wear them home from work either.”

“I like how it cradles my junk, sue me.”

“I might.” Sanji sniffed haughtily.

Zoro rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything else. He made his way into the bathroom to hop in the shower, and left Sanji to finish toweling off. There was some embarrassing scavenging he had to do to locate where all his clothes had gotten tossed to last night, but after locating his underwear under Zoro’s dresser he finally found everything.

Once he was dressed, he made his way to the kitchen and found the coffee waiting as promised. Immediately filling up a much needed cup, he got halfway through the mug before he felt a bit more human and was actually able to take in Zoro’s apartment.

Wandering to the spacious living room, Sanji sipped at his coffee while taking in the tidy area and how simplistic the whole place was. He wasn’t certain what else he had been expecting, but apparently minimalistic and with modern furniture hadn’t been it.

There was a very nice television positioned before an angular sofa, and a glass coffee table separated them; a few bookcases were positioned in tasteful corners with a diverse collection of hardbacks and knickknacks. Most of them seemed to be novels, but upon closer inspection a lot of the books had to do with swords and historical lore, and an interesting amount were in another language entirely.

It made Sanji realize that he really had only brushed the surface with Zoro.

Moving on, he eventually came to stop at a piece of wall beside bay windows facing the ocean. A rack was mounted on the wall with three very distinct swords carefully positioned on it; their colours and markings each so vibrant and unique that Sanji found them almost hypnotizing.

Despite being gorgeous and reverently placed, there were obvious signs of wear along the hilt and even the scabbards were worn in certain areas. They clearly got regular use, and Sanji was beginning to piece together a bit of a broader image of the already complex man currently living here.

With another sip of his coffee, Sanji turned away just in time to see Zoro walking out of his room with a pair of sweatpants slung low and a towel in hand. Scrubbing his hair dry, he stopped short when he noticed where Sanji stood and then smiled.

Sanji’s heart fluttered.

Staring down into his coffee as though begging for answers, Sanji had to face facts that last night hadn’t been a fluke, and that a decent night’s - morning’s? - sleep hadn’t changed how he felt. Now he was just left with the daunting decision of what he was going to do with this information. He didn’t think he’d get this far, so he really didn’t have a plan at this point.

Needing to remain aloof for his own sanity, Sanji motioned to the swords and asked, “These yours?”

“Yup.” Zoro admitted and hooked the towel around his neck, letting it hang as he made his way into the open kitchen and poured himself his own cup of coffee. Glancing up as he began stirring in the milk, “Swordsman. By the way.”

“Uh…” Sanji arched a brow, “What?”

“You answered my question last night, I’m answering yours.” Tossing the spoon into the sink, Zoro leaned his hip against the counter and picked up his coffee. Levelling Sanji with a genuine look, “I wanted to be a swordsman.”

“Huh.” The sound fell out of Sanji before he could stop it, obviously that answer made sense, but it was still such an uncommon thing to hear. Thinking back to last night and all the answers that he had come up with, and how this was, “Not quite what I was expecting.”

Zoro gave an innocent shrug.

“Why didn’t you do it?”

“It doesn’t really make a lot of money - it doesn’t really make any money.” Zoro muttered and paused to slurp his coffee, “For a kid that slept through most of high school and almost flunked out there’s not many jobs; except flipping burgers. Which I did, until I found out I’m good at taking my clothes off for money.”

“I’m sure that’s an interesting story.”

“Not really.” Chuckling and pushing away from the counter, Zoro stepped back into the living room, “Was drunk at a party and got dared to take my clothes off. My friend’s brother saw and offered me a job; had to take a few dance lessons, but…”

Zoro trailed off with a shrug and an indifferent noise.

“And you’re happy?”

“I get to make more than enough money doing what I’m good at. And then I get to do what I love without being broke.” Zoro grinned, “It’s a pretty awesome trade if you ask me.”

A relieved grin crept onto Sanji's face.

“Why are you smiling?”

For some reason, the question just made Sanji smile harder.

“It’s…”

Shaking his head and sidestepping around Zoro, Sanji just wryly grinned to himself as he rinsed out his mug and set it aside carefully in the sink. When he was done he habitually pulled out a cigarette, pausing when he realized he couldn’t light it here, and then tucked it behind his ear.

Following Sanji, Zoro prodded, “‘It’s’?”

Without a cigarette to occupy himself, Sanji crossed his arms and admitted, “It’s just nice to know I don’t have to pity you.”

“Pity?” Zoro scoffed and set his mug aside, “What the hell for?”

"That you didn't actually give up."

“You’d feel sorry for me if I did?”

“I believe the word I used was _pity_ , but sure.”

Something complex pinched Zoro’s face, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good; Sanji couldn’t really place it and he was worried if he spent too much time trying to work it out that he’d be getting more than he bargained for. He was already in way too deep, and he didn’t like the way Zoro was looking at him now…

It was too… _fond_.

“Anyway, I should probably go.” Sanji segued as politely and nonchalantly as he could, though there was really no easy way to excuse himself after a fling like this. Gesturing vaguely towards the window, “It’s already halfway through the day and I have shit I actually need to get done.”

Zoro seemed a little surprised, but not at all put out. Following Sanji as he began to make his way back to the door, “Are we going to go on another date?”

Forcing a laugh, Sanji tried to ignore how his heart skipped excitedly at the question, “I said it wasn’t a date.”

“Well,” Zoro muttered, “can the next one be?”

“You…” Sanji slowed his escape. He hadn’t been ready for this, “you want to?”

“Yeah.” They reached the door and Zoro nodded like it was the simplest thing in the world, “I like you.”

“You say that rather confidently.” Sanji slipped on his loafers and arched a snide brow, “We don’t even know each other.”

Despite the slightly harsh words, it didn’t slow Zoro down. And when Sanji opened the door Zoro stepped up beside him to argue.

“I know what I want." Zoro countered shrewdly, "Do you?"

Of course he did, but admitting it was such a hard thing to do.

“Besides, I think my neighbours would probably say that we know each other pretty well, and you don’t seem to care what I do for a living since you came to my work.” Zoro grinned cheekily, “It’s just really up to you if you want to do this, or pretend this whole night didn’t happen.”

Sanji looked away.

“I--” This was the exact confrontation he had hoped to avoid. He didn’t even have the answers for himself, and now Zoro wanted them from him as well. It was all feeling like too much too soon, as Sanji tentatively allowed, “I’m not saying no.”

“But?”

Biting his lip, Sanji wanted a smoke now more than ever.

“But I’m still not sure what the hell this all means.” It was impossible to meet Zoro’s gaze at first. Looking down at his hands nervously shoved into his pockets, then over the man’s shoulder at the clear blue sky visible out his balcony before finally continuing, “Up until a few weeks ago I thought I was as straight as an arrow, and until a few hours ago there was no way I would’ve thought I would sleep with a guy. I… I need time to understand what the hell’s going on with me.”

“I don’t mind helping with that.”

“I know,” Sanji finally had the courage to look at the man, “which is why I can’t. Conflict of interest.”

That at least earned a wry smile from the stripper.

“Well…” Zoro trailed off, thumping his fist awkwardly against the door frame. Looking at it thoughtfully as he tapped it a few more times and then back at Sanji with a softer expression than expected, “you know where to find me if you change your mind.”

“Right.” Sanji agreed with a nod that felt stupidly out of place.

“Thanks for…” Trailing off with a blush, Sanji just huffed and ignored Zoro’s smirk. “Just thanks.”

A small incline of his head and a fond smile was the last thing Sanji saw, turning away just before he had to see the door shut on Zoro’s face.

Sanji made it down the hallway in what felt like a trance, having stepped out into this surreal world where the reality of what had happened the other night hit him with full force. He’d gone to a strip club, he’d spent the night on a date with a guy, and then he’d gone home and slept with said man; it should have been freaking him out more than it had this morning, but instead he just felt oddly calm about it.

Reaching the end of the hall, he absently pressed the button to call the lift and stood dazedly remembering everything that had happened. Almost against his will as moments of their evening together flashed through his mind like a slideshow, and he could already feel his temperature rising at some of the more risque memories.

The memory of Zoro’s lips on his was visceral.

Staring at the elevator doors and raising a hand to touch his tingling lips, he didn’t even register as they slid open and then eventually shut. Cold, reflective metal distorting his stunned reflection as Sanji suddenly glanced over his shoulder and at the door at the end of the hall.

A moment later he was running.

It was stupid. Zoro was going to think he was insane. Sanji wasn’t even entirely convinced that he wasn’t, but he had spent weeks overthinking everything, and when he skidded to halt in front of Zoro’s door he knew he didn’t need to think about this at all. He knew that he had only been certain about a few things in his life, and as he hammered nervously on Zoro’s door that this was one of them.

Dreadful, silent moments passed and Sanji waited with bated breath, heart jumping into his throat when Zoro’s footsteps became audible. Then Zoro opened the door with a confused and expectant, “What?”

All Sanji could do was grin back stupidly, “I changed my mind.”

That infectious grin was soon lighting up Zoro’s face in an endearingly crooked smirk, and he was reaching out to tangle a hand in Sanji’s shirt as he dragged him into the apartment. Meeting Sanji halfway, he murmured into a sweet kiss, “About damned time.”

~The End~


End file.
